U.S. horse racing saw a significant drop in wagering in February 2025 versus the prior year, according to Equibase statistics.

Wagering on U.S. races, including worldwide commingled wagering, fell by 8.01%, from $838.3 million in February 2024 to $771.2 million in February 2025.

Similarly, U.S. purses—both available and paid—saw declines of 10.07% and 11.26%, respectively. The total available purse dropped from $86.4 million to $77.7 million, while the total paid purse fell from $82.6 million to $73.3 million.

The decline in wagering and purses correlates with a reduction in racing events. The number of race days fell by 13.10% (from 252 to 219), while the total number of races decreased by 11.33% (from 2,154 to 1,910). Additionally, U.S. starts (individual horse entries in races) dropped by 8.11%, from 16,581 to 15,237.

Despite overall declines, some metrics showed resilience or improvement. Average field size—the number of horses per race—increased by 3.63%, rising from 7.70 to 7.98.

Additionally, average wagering per race day grew by 5.85%, from $3.33 million to $3.52 million. Similarly, average available purses per race day increased by 3.49%, from $342,908 to $354,864.

For the year to date, handle is about $1.57 billion. That’s 2.7% below the nearly $1.62 billion that had been wagered to date in 2024. Wagering in 2024 was 3.4% lower than it had been in 2023.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS