Meet handle soars over 40 percent

ELMONT, N.Y. – All-sources handle at Belmont Park was $386,654,955 for the 25-day meet that concluded Sunday. The average daily handle was $15,466,198, an increase of 41.6 percent from the daily average of $10,917,736 for the 48-day spring/summer meet of 2019.

The Belmont meet, which followed an 80-day shutdown of racing on this circuit, was held without fans or owners being allowed ontrack due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meet, which was scheduled for 51 days beginning April 24, didn’t start until June 3.

The 2020 handle numbers were about 13 percent higher than New York Racing Association officials were projecting for the meet, according to NYRA president and CEO

Dave O’Rourke. For the majority of the meet, horse racing was the only sport operating and available to wager on before MLS soccer came on board.

Belmont’s races were televised on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 as well as MSG+ and other regional cable networks.

“I think the fact we had TV coverage was a huge thing for us, allowed us to maintain our position of exposure which has helped that handle number,” O’Rourke said.

The race meet was run under protocols that included COVID19 testing, wearing masks, and social distancing. NYRA operated with a limited staff.

The Belmont Stakes, reduced in distance to 1 1/8 miles, kicked off the Triple Crown season June 20. The New Yorkbred Tiz the Law won the race. All-sources handle was $67,753,336, slightly less than NYRA projected.

Belmont ran 120 turf races and only had to take five off the turf. Average field size for the 248 races run at the meet was 8.68. Last year, there were 448 races run with an average field size of 7.06. In 2019, there were 188 races on turf, 46 taken off. All-sources handle on the 2019 meet was $524,051,324.

Closing-week handle numbers at this meet were adversely impacted by running against Keeneland, which held a five-day meet after canceling its April meet.

Trainer Chad Brown won his fifth straight Belmont spring/summer meet title with 23 wins, including Grade 1 stakes victories in the Manhattan (Instilled Regard) and Just a Game (Newspaperofrecord). Christophe Clement

finished with 14 wins, followed by Rudy Rodriguez (11), Todd Pletcher (10), and Bill Mott (10).

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. led all jockeys with 34 wins, besting his brother Jose by two. They were followed by Manny Franco (20), Joel Rosario (19), John Velazquez (18), and Javier Castellano (18).

Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, whose horses are trained by Brown, won 13 races to lead all owners. Michael Dubb was next with seven wins.

The equine star of the meet was Vekoma, who won both the Grade 1 Runhappy Carter and Grade 1 Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap for trainer George Weaver and owners Randy Hill and Mike Gatsas.