Kentucky Downs concluded what became a three-day meet with declines in total pari-mutuel handle.
The daily average handle per race on 24 live races was $164,048, the Kentucky racetrack reported Sept. 29. Total handle of $3,937,165 was down 9.97% compared with last year’s per-race handle.
For 46 live races at Kentucky Downs in 2008, total handle was $8,381,590.
Kentucky Downs was scheduled to run four days, but a six-race card Sept. 26 was canceled because of heavy rain that left the turf course unsafe. Kentucky Downs has a turf course only.
Three races were lost Sept. 21, but they were added to the Sept. 28 closing-day program, when 12 races were run.
In the past, Kentucky Downs has run as many as eight days.
“The weather provided us with a challenge, but we had a lot of victories,” Kentucky Downs general manager Jon Goodman said in a statement. “We had some of the finest horses in our history race here this year. Top horses like Cloudy’s Knight and Fort Prado exemplified the quality on display during the meeting.”
Todd Pletcher was leading trainer and Orlando Mojica was leading jockey.
