All Over Albany

Average attendance at Saratoga down this season

The season at the Saratoga Race Course ended yesterday. And the attendance and wagering numbers -- which sometimes seem to get more attention than the actual race results -- are in.

Average daily attendance at The Track was down this season, compared to last year. The numbers from NYRA:

Daily average attendance was 21,957, down 7.4 percent from 23,734 in 2009

Daily average on-track handle [the amount bet] was $2,867,329, down 7.8 percent from $3,111,274 in 2009;

Daily average all-sources handle was $13,791,518, down 3.4 percent from $14,273,257 in 2009

The total number of admissions this season (878,280) was up over last year (854,424) -- but this year's season was 40 days and last year's was 36. NYRA has broken down the numbers a few ways to compare to the 36 day season -- that's after the jump.

Get this: NYRA reports that more than $353 million was bet on races at Saratoga in August (actually at the track, or off-site somewhere) -- that was almost a third of all the money bet on horse races in the US during the month.

More numbers from NYRA:

Comparing the six full weeks of the 2010 meet (36 days, not including the first four days) with the six-week (36 days) 2009 meet:

• Attendance is down 5.7 percent (805,832 vs. 854,413) for a daily average of 22,384 vs. 23,734;


• On-track handle is down 6.6 percent ($104,610,307 vs. $112,005,878) for a daily average of $2,905,842 vs. $3,111,274;


• All-sources handle is down 2.6 percent ($500,322,977 vs. $513,837,235) for a daily average of $13,897,860 vs. $14,273,257.

Comparing the 40-day 2010 meet with the 36-day 2009 meet PLUS the three days at Belmont Park in 2009 (which were replaced with four days at Saratoga in 2010):

• Total attendance is up 0.7 percent (878,284 vs. 872,150) with a daily average of 21,957 vs. 22,363;


• Total on-track handle is down 0.3 percent ($114,693,168 vs. $115,028,581) with a daily average of $2,867,329 vs. $2,949,451;


• Total all-sources handle is up 2.1 percent ($551,660,725 vs. $540,122,581) with a daily average of $13,791,518 vs. $13,849,297.