U.S. purses reached $1,067,490,193 last year, an increase of 3.6% compared with 2000. Most of the increase came from just a couple of states, including West Virginia where expansion of video lottery terminals (VLT) at Mountaineer Park and Charles Town Race helped boost their combined purses by $21.6 million.

Meanwhile, U.S. handle increased 1.6% to $14,550,065,505 including
separate pools first reported in 2000. Since last declining in 1993, pari-mutuel handle on U.S. racing has grown at a 6.4% annualized rate.

Statistics in the Breeding and Sales Sections demonstrate the impact of Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome, which terminated the pregnancies of a significant portion of the mare population in Kentucky during the spring of 2001 and was also responsible for several hundred stillborn foals. MRLS was a primary cause for the projected decline in foal crop size for 2002, and was a major contributing factor to last year's precipitous declines in auction sales results for broodmares and weanlings.

Gross sales for broodmares fell 40.7% in 2001 while weanlings dropped 37.3%. The average price for broodmares and weanlings declined 34.7% and 23.9% respectively.