Ontrack business at the current Saratoga meet after 28 days continues to run ahead of comparable figures for 2010, the New York Racing Association reported Aug. 22 as the fifth week of the meet ended.
Total attendance was 632,600, up 3.7% from 609,943 in 2010, while ontrack pari-mutuel handle totaled $85,582,029, up 9.9% from $77,862,507 last year.
Wagering at the downstate Belmont Café and Aqueduct simulcast facilities was $13,496,697, resulting in a combined ontrack handle of $99,078,726, up 15.5% from $85,770,387 in 2010. The downstate facilities have increased business because of the close of New York City Off-Track Betting Corp.
All-sources handle, which includes wagers on Saratoga races both ontrack and at simulcast outlets nationwide, was $365,549,443, down 0.2% from $366,178,939 in 2010. The number could be attributed to a slight decline in field size.
The average number of betting interests per race through week five was 8.2 (2,301 total) compared with 8.4 (2,271 total) for the first 28 days of 2010. Turf races totaled 111, with 30 taken off the turf, compared with 119 on and 23 off in 2010.
