attendance

Numbers have been released for the 2024 Breeders' Cup World Championships, with total all-sources, global common-pool handle for the two-day event at $179,218,631, marking a 1.7% bettering of the 2023 total handle. The 41st running of the Breeders' Cup was held Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar, while the 2023 event was held at Santa Anita. The 2024 handle of $179,218,631 marked the third-highest in Breeders' Cup history since the event went to two days in 2007. Only the 2022 event at Keeneland (with $189,060,373 in handle) and the 2021 event...

With 20 days down and 20 days to go for Saratoga 2024, the handle numbers are remarkably close to what NYRA posted in 2023. At the end of Wednesday's last race, $390,617,175 had been wagered on the meet, a 0.4 percent increase from the midway point of the 2023 meet. Last year's racing season was a trying one for NYRA as rain decimated parts of the meet. A total of $799,229,288 was bet on the 40 days of racing, a decline of 9 percent from 2022 figures. The wet weather...

Despite rainfall in excess of 250 millimetres, or nearly 10 inches, during the week, Sunday's FWD Champions Day meeting came off without a hitch, as local horses took home the lion's share of the HK$72 million on offer. "They did an extraordinary job, with these types of weather conditions, the ground was extremely fair and it enabled all the horses to participate," HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said of the track maintenance team. "Nobody could believe that with over 250mm of rain how well our track performed and provided fair going...

Total all-sources, global common-pool handle for the Nov. 3-4 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita was $176,281,989, the lowest number since 2020, the same year live Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland had no reported attendance due to COVID-19. At the same time, attendance of 109,624 for the two-day event in 2023 was the highest of the past five years. Breeders' Cup Limited released the numbers late Saturday evening. "Racing fans here and from around the world were treated to two days of the very best of our sport, including...

The first half of Del Mar's 83rd summer season has been highlighted by safe racing, full fields and sizeable increases in wagering and on-track attendance. Fueled by record California purses of over $800,000 per day, field size has averaged 9.90 for turf races and 8.83 for main track events. Together, they combine for a nation leading 9.30 horses per contest, well above last year's average of 8.45. Through the first 15 days of the summer season, total wagering is $297,044,168 for a daily average of $19,802,945, an increase of 6.7%...

A crowd of 147,294 witnessed Rich Strike's (Keen Ice) 80-1 upset in the 148th running of the GI Kentucky Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs. Wagering from all-sources on the Kentucky Derby Day program totaled $273.8 million, a 17% increase over 2021 and up 9% from the previous record in 2019 of $250.9 million. Wagering from all-sources on the Kentucky Derby race totaled $179.0 million, up 15% over 2021 and up 8% from the previous record of $166.5 million set in 2019. This year's wagering record includes $8.3 million of handle...

Six-month statistics for horse racing and breeding in Ireland shows underlying growth in the industry despite the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report was released by Horse Racing Ireland on Thursday. The metrics of horses in training (+24%), owners (+23.9%), new owner (+31%),  runners (+23.8%), fixtures (+8.4%), and race numbers (+14.6) have all shown strong growth over the corresponding pre-pandemic figures for 2019. Attendance at Irish racecourses was the major area where figures suffered, as there has been no public attendance at any racemeeting in Ireland for...

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that sports arenas and stadiums with a capacity of better than 10,000 can re-open with limited spectators. The first event open to spectators in the state will be the National Basketball Association contest between the Sacramento Kings and Brooklyn Nets at the Barclay Center Feb. 23. The opening of venues will follow the Buffalo Bills pilot program, deemed an "unparalleled success" by Cuomo, following guidelines including Department of Health approval for venues and events, capacity limitations, testing requirements, mandatory face coverings, temperature checks and...

Churchill Downs Racetrack officials have released a detailed 62-page health and safety operations plan that will limit attendance to the 146th running of the GI Kentucky Derby Saturday, Sept. 5 to less than 14% of total capacity from the 2015 attendance record. The Kentucky Derby, first staged in 1875, is the longest continually-held major sporting event in the United States and was originally scheduled for May 5. A record crowd of 170,513 attended the event in 2015. Due to physical distancing protocols and other safety measures in place to mitigate...

Hoping to allow crowds as large as 15,000 to its live racing days, Monmouth Park management has been given new guidelines by Governor Phil Murphy's office that will cap live attendance at a much smaller number. Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC., which operates the track, was still crunching the numbers yesterday prior to opening day at the abbreviated meet and going over what he could and could not do, but estimated that the amount of people that would be allowed in the track would be between...