Remington Park's Meet Slumps

Remington Park reported across-the-board declines in attendance and handle for its 59-day meet that ended Nov. 24. The Oklahoma City racetrack reported a 4.3% decline in average daily attendance to 2,337 and an 11.5% drop in average daily on-track handle to $120,551. Total average daily handle fell 12.5% to $761,021.

Storms that cut short two race days and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., were key reasons for the lost business, according to Dale Day, Remingtonês director of marketing.

–While our attendance was down, it was not down drastically," Day said. –However, our fans wagered less on our live product and on our incoming simulcasting. That tells us our fans still came to the races, they were just more frugal with their dollars."

The average daily handle for on-track wagers made on simulcasted races fell 24% to $162,256. Wagering on Remington Park from in-state off-track wagering parlors also fell 14% to an average of $19,523 per day.

Remington lost six races when severe storms stopped racing on Aug. 25 and Sept. 7. The track ran 73 days last year so the total purses paid decreased to $5.9 million from $7.1 million. Average daily purses, however, rose 3% to $100,582.