Four of six tracks in The Racing Biz coverage area generated less handle on their live product this past weekend than the prior one, and wagering on the group as a whole was off by eight percent. Those tracks are Charles Town, Colonial Downs, Delaware Park, Monmouth, Parx Racing, and Penn National.
Overall, the six tracks handled more than $16.2 million on Saturday and Sunday, down from $17.6 million the week before. Monmouth and Charles Town were the only tracks to experience gains this week. Wagering on Monmouth was up by almost $331,000 or 3.38 percent,to more than $10 million for the weekend. The Grade 3 Eatontown, on Saturday, was the weekend’s most popular wagering race and helped to drive the gains.
At Charles Town, wagering was up 25 percent, to more than $1.6 million for the weekend. The Sunday afternoon cards continue to struggle, with less than $600,000 handled this week. But Saturday’s evening affair generated over $1 million in handle. Bridge jumpers contributed mightily to that total, betting more than $229,000 into the win-place-show pool of the Coin Collector Stakes for West Virginia-breds; that race featured 1-9 In the Fairway, who dominated four rivals to win easily. No other race on the card managed even $45,000 in the WPS pool.
Colonial, which enjoyed solid business last weekend — driven by its four-stake Saturday card — saw business decline by nearly half this weekend, to less than $1 million on the two days combined. Bettors wagered less than $400,000 into Saturday’s card, featuring the Buckland Stakes. The $986,000 combined weekend handle did compare favorably to the track’s June 15-16 numbers of $967,000.
Delaware, Parx, and Penn National all saw business drop this weekend, by amounts ranging from 18 percent for Delaware to 32 percent for Penn. While the two Pennsylvania tracks had carded stakes the prior weekend — with Parx’s Levine Memorial among the weekend’s most interesting races — only Delaware of these three did so this weekend, and its Oh Say for three year-olds drew a field of just six.
