NYRA Stats Down for the Year

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Combined attendance, on-track handle, and total handle dropped for the three racetracks run by the New York Racing Association.

Average daily attendance slid 1.4% to 9,573 down from 9,705 last year for the 258 days run at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga. Average daily on-track handle fell 3.9% to $1,970,361 down from $2,049,411 a year ago, and the average daily commingled handle dropped 2.2% to $10,107,358.

"As far as business is concerned, a decrease in on-track numbers seem to be an industry-wide concern," said Terry Meyocks, president of NYRA. "Our numbers for the year were somewhat exaggerated by the soft business at Aqueduct here this fall."

The average daily on-track handle at Aqueduct decreased 13.5% to $1,390,461 and average daily attendance dropped 14.1% to 4,657. The average daily total handle also suffered, falling 6.6% to $8,089,241.

Horsemen enjoyed a good year at the NYRA tracks. Average daily purses increased 6.1% to $439,167 and average overnight purses rose nearly 2.9% to $37,773. For the year, NYRA paid $113,305,173 in purses compared with last year when the association paid $107,620,469 during 260 days of racing.

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