On Monday Equibase released its January figures for the Thoroughbred industry's economic indicators, which showed increases in purses and number of races but downturns in total daily wagering, average wagering per race day on U.S. races, and field size.
Overall, total purses of $90,069,945 in the first month of 2023 increased by 9.7% over the figure of $82,102,162 reported a year ago. However, January's $874,180,855 in worldwide commingled wagering on U.S. races showed a 7.19% drop in total wagering, and the average wagering per race day number of $3,298,796 represented a drop of 9.29% compared to the figure of $3,646,813 reported for the first month of 2022.
Field size remained relatively the same with January figures showing average field size at 7.73 starters, which is a decline of just .33% from a year ago.
The total number of races increased by 4.3% to 2,280 in January, up from 2,185 in 2022.
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