Outside of the COVID year of 2020, this was the steepest decline based on percentage of handle since 2011. A total of $11,658,624,859 was wagered in 2023.

“I think we got quite a blip coming out of the pandemic when we were the only game in town,” said Marshall Gramm, an economics professor, horseplayer and the managing partner of Ten Strike Stable. “Now, I think we are feeling the real competition from sports betting. It's proliferated everywhere and at such a cheaper price point. Then we have small field sizes and the quality of the product is deteriorating. A lot of things have come together. The game is getting ever tougher for the real hardcore weekend warriors who would handle a couple hundred thousand to a million a year. They're finding this market to be a lot tougher. It's shark eats shark out there.”

In a surprising development, U.S. purses fell from $1,309,888,791 to $1,305,772,102, for a decline of .31 percent. With so much money being funneled into purses accounts from alternative forms of gambling, purses rose by 35.8% in 2021, the year after COVID. They were up 10.9 percent in 2022. With the casino market pretty saturated in this country, massive year-over-year increases in purses may be a thing of the past.

There was a reduction of 5.48% in the category of U.S. Race Days and a dip of 3.34 percent in U.S. starts.

In a somewhat encouraging development, the average field size actually showed a slight increase from 7.3 to 7.43.

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“Overall, just a tremendous summer of quality racing,” Racing Secretary David Jerkens says. “Especially Pacific Classic Day. You look back and see how strong of a card that was. I think some of the winners and horses that ran well on that card have bright futures for the Breeders' Cup.”

The talk around the racing industry is the field sizes again this year at Del Mar.

“It was a robust number that I think any track in the country would kill for,” Jerkens says. “We knew last year would be difficult to match but we are very close to what we had last year. I think two years in a row, when you're over or hovering around nine runners a race, that's a pretty strong accomplishment.”

The average field size for the dirt races at Del Mar this summer was 8.47 and for the turf races it was 9.50. Stake races had an AFS of 8.56.

“We had a strong product throughout,” Jerkens notes. “We did have the (one day) weather cancellation but we made up all those races that were canceled.”

Tropical Storm Hilary was the only hiccup all summer. The storm prompted horse evacuations, canceled racing Aug. 20 and eventually dumped two inches of rain on the backside. But from all reports afterward, what little flooding there was in the stable area had no impact on the horses and things were back to normal in just a couple of days.

The “Ship & Win” program was a success once again this summer, contributing to the large field sizes.

“The results were pretty much what we expected,” Jerkens says. “I think we were 14% off the number of starters from last year but that was another expectation we had to curtail a bit because we knew, in reality, it would be hard to match. We may still end up with our second most  Ship & Win' runners.”

Heading into the final weekend, 171 “Ship & Win” starters debuted at Del Mar this summer. Twenty three made it to the winner's circle, six last week.

“You can do all these different programs,” Jerkens concedes, “but all that means nothing unless you get the support in the entry box. That's what we had from our horsemen once again.”

So, now we look ahead to the fall meet, something Jerkens has already started planning.

“Hopefully we'll have our stakes schedule released in the upcoming weeks,” Jerkens says. “We're starting to plant seeds for the fall. Generally, if the weather cooperates and we're able to run on the grass we'll have a successful meet. Last year everything went well, knock on wood. We were fortunate in terms of the weather. We had really strong fields our last two weekends and expectations are for more of the same, but a lot is dependent on the rain.”

The four-week Bing Crosby meet kicks off the week after the Breeders' Cup, November 10.

For Jerkens, the end of the summer meet is the end of a very long process that actually goes year round.

“Absolutely,” Jerkens says. “You hear from more people across the country than normal about them taking notice of what Del Mar had to offer this summer. I think we had the strongest day-to-day race product around this summer.”

“My staff worked really hard,” Jerkens continues. “There's a lot of planning that goes into it. You don't just show up Opening Day and here it is. But again, so many owners and trainers really want to be part of Del Mar and they provided tremendous support this summer.”

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Handle is still down by 3.40% for the year.

The advances reversed a trend that began in October of last year. Handle fell by 4.93% in October and continued to drop over the next four months. From October through February, handle fell by a total of $263,808,165, for a decline of 5.8%.

The decline in handle has not affected purses, which continue to benefit from slot machines, historical horse racing and other non-racing sources. Total purses paid out in March added up to $94,783,996 for an increase of 9.16%. Through the first three months of the year, over $266 million in purses have been paid out, which represents an increase of 8.70%.

The numbers for average field size have kept pace with 2022 figures. The average field size for the year has been 7.59 starters per race, for an increase of 0.48%. And though many tracks have contracted their racing schedules in recent years, 6,977 races were run during the first three months of the year for an increase of 3.09%.

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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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The 83rd summer meet at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) set new records for average daily handle with $18.69 million a day, an increase of 1.5% from last year's $18.41 million, which was the previous record. Total wagering for the meet increased to $579.24 million, compared to the $570.78 million wagered during the 2021 summer session. In addition, on-track business increased with average daily wagering of $1.52 million, which represented a 4.8% growth from 2021. Total attendance of 278,702 was up 16.1% from 2021's total of 240,030.

With an average of more than $800,000 in purses per day, field size reached 9.77 for turf races and 8.67 for main track races. Together they combined for a Del Mar record of 9.14 horses per race, well above last year's average of 8.45 and among the top in field size for the entire country.

“Just an incredible meet on all levels,” said Joe Harper, Del Mar's CEO. “All season long the racing was ultra-competitive and extremely safe. Our racing office, led by Tom Robbins and David Jerkens, was phenomenal. We're also very appreciative of the support we received from our fans and our players both here on track and all across the country.”

In addition, Del Mar's “Ship & Win” program had its best season yet with 222 new runners shipping in to race well ahead of last year's record 186 shippers.

“This meet is the culmination of a year-long plan to revitalize California racing and return it to its rightful place as one of the best circuits in America,” said Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) chairman Gary Fenton. “A big thank you to our partners at DMTC and our members. Without owners there is no California racing and they continue to make a strong statement that Del Mar is their favorite place to be.”

Rider Juan Hernandez, who won five graded races at the meet, captured the jockey title in a runaway with 49 total victories. Umberto Rispoli trailed in second with 27 wins for the meet. Hernandez won his first rider's title at Del Mar last fall.

In contrast, the trainer's title was so close that it came down to the last day of the meet. Bob Baffert got a victory with Cave Rock (Arrogate) in the GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity, a win that put him on even terms with Phil D'Amato. The two finished the day tied with 19 wins apiece. It's D'Amato third summer title at Del Mar and his fourth overall, as well as Baffert's eighth (but first title at Del Mar since 2003). A total of 70 different trainers won races at the meet.

The leading owner crown went to the partnership of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, who finished first both in number of wins and money won. They won a total of nine races (35%) and purses of $849,680. Hronis Racing was the runner-up with wins (six) and J. Paul Reddam's Reddam Racing was second in purses ($628,834).

Racing will return to Del Mar for the Bing Crosby meet, which runs Nov. 11 through Dec. 4.

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To discuss the meet–which runs through Sept. 11–the TDN sat down with Josh Rubinstein, president of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, who spoke field size, purse bonuses, stabling and a certain high-flying trainee.

The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

TDN: Opening day is Friday with a sold-out crowd and an impressive average field size of 11 horses per-race. Not a bad way to kick things off. What other things can horsemen and racegoers look forward to this summer at Del Mar?

Josh Rubinstein: Last year, obviously we set a very high bar. We averaged $18.4 million in daily handle. [Total handle of $570,725,048 million saw] a hundred-million dollar increase from the previous year. Field size was nearly 8.5 runners per race. We're very optimistic on the upcoming meet.

You mentioned we're off to a great start. Opening day card, there are 11 starters per race. We're working with our partners at the TOC [Thoroughbred Owners of California]. We presented a very aggressive purse program this summer with the daily purse-average of over $800,000 a day, which is not just a Del Mar record, but a California record. We also increased [purses] for 25 of our 39 stakes for a Del Mar record of $8.6 million. There's a lot of good news.

TDN: You raise field size, which has been a real headache lately at Santa Anita and, quite frankly, nationally and internationally. But Del Mar's field sizes have been traditionally strong these past few years. What are your expectations for this year's meet?

JR: We're fortunate to have a terrific racing department led by Tom Robbins [executive vice president of racing and industry relations] and [racing secretary] David Jerkens. They do a wonderful job of communicating with our horsemen and horsewomen, not just during Del Mar, but throughout the year. We get feedback from our horsemen and women, and that goes into the types of races Dave and Tom put in the book.

As you know, we created a few years ago the Ship & Win program. I talked about the record purses that we're offering–the Ship & Win incentives are a record this year, too. We're paying a 50% purse bonus on all non-stake dirt races and 40% on turf, plus a $5,000 first-starter bonus on the dirt, and $4,000 on the turf. So again, those are record incentives.

When you look at our purses this summer, our Maiden Special Weight races are $80,000. So, an out of state horse on the dirt is running for $125,000 for a Maiden Special Weight, which is pretty eye-popping.

The interesting thing about Ship & Win, over 70% of the runners are from local owners and trainers. It's all about our local owners and trainers going out and finding horses and bringing them to California, which is certainly the goal.

Last year, we had over 300 Ship & Win starts at Del Mar and the majority of those horses stayed on the circuit. So, there's a year-round benefit at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos, even up north.

Tom and David do a wonderful job of getting the word out there. David did quite a bit of traveling this Spring to talk about Del Mar. We have 12 trainers–12 out state trainers–who will be with us this summer with over 160 horses. Those trainers include Mike Maker, Jack Sisterson and Robertino Diodoro. It's a good list.

TDN: For a few years now, Del Mar has maintained a consistently good equine welfare and safety record. Have you made any tweaks to that formula this year?

JR: It's always a work in progress. We have regular discussions with the CHRB [California Horse Racing Board], our vets, the TOC and CTT [California Thoroughbred Trainers], ensuring that we've got the safest possible environment at Del Mar.

While we're proud of our safety designation–three years running the safest major racetrack in the country as defined by the equine injury database–there's always more work to be done.

The positive thing is it's not just Del Mar. In California, fatalities were reduced by 50% over the last two years. Santa Anita just concluded a very safe Winter-Spring season, so, we're obviously very proud of the efforts that all the stakeholders have made to make California the model for safety and welfare throughout the country.

TDN: Related to that, the racetrack safety component of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is now a few weeks into implementation. Has that had any impact on your usual preparations or has it been pretty much business as usual?

JR: In California, we did a lot of this heavy lifting on the safety and welfare reforms over the last few years, so, there really isn't–in terms of racing and training operations–not that much of a change with HISA.

The big change–and I know it hasn't always been a smooth process–is the registration component. All horses have to be registered and then all individuals involved with the care of the horse–owners, trainers, vets, etcetera–have to be registered with HISA. That hasn't always been easy. We're trying to assist where we can.

I can say that the HISA team, led by Lisa Lazarus their CEO, has been very responsive. We had several meetings with Lisa and her team over the last six months on the implementation of HISA.

We believe, at the end of the day, that HISA will make horse racing a better sport throughout the country. It's also going to be a competitive advantage for California as now, all states will be required to adhere to our safety standards and medication testing, which commences in 2023.

TDN: It's been well documented how the pandemic seriously impacted the Del Mar Fairgrounds fiscal health. While things appear a little sunnier for the Fairgrounds now as compared to a couple years ago, how much added pressure does that put on you at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club to perform, considering how integral the track's operations are?

JR: Look, horse racing is an extremely important component of the financial wellbeing of the Del Mar Fairgrounds. As you know, in 2020, there were very, very few events outside of horse racing. In 2021, there were a few events but once again, the positive financial impact of horse racing really sustained the Fairgrounds.

But it's not just on property–it's also the local community. There are many local businesses, hotels, restaurants, the shops throughout Del Mar and Solana Beach, that really rely on horse racing to keep them in business.

TDN: Now, onto the ever-green issue of stabling in Southern California. In 2020, Del Mar invested over $11 million in an onsite wastewater treatment facility to potentially allow for year-round stabling. What's the current status of that?

JR: We've been working with industry stakeholders for both a short and long-term plan on stabling.

I can't really say much beyond that, outside of that we should be able to share details shortly. I'm very optimistic on the direction of things–we seem to have a plan that folks are behind, from the racetracks to the owners, and we'll continue to work on that. I'm just not right now at liberty to share any details.

TDN: And finally, any particular race or horse you're especially looking forward to seeing this summer?

JR: We're off to a great start. Any time, as a racetrack operator, you look at an overnight and your average field size is 11 runners, which is our opening day card, it's a heck of a start. From a wagering standpoint, it's as competitive a card as has been seen in California in a long time. And, of course, Flightline, right…

TDN: I was just about to ask if there's a particular horse beginning with “F.”

JR: At the end of the day, I'm a racing fan just like everybody else in this business. I wasn't around for horses like Spectacular Bid and Seattle Slew and Secretariat.

I know Flightline has a way to go to be in that company. He's run four times so far, but it's been pretty dynamic. Hopefully, we will be fortunate Flightline will grace our presence at Del Mar this year in the TVG Pacific Classic.

TDN: What does it mean to you, as a racetrack operator, to have the possibility of a horse like that show up at your venue?

JR: That's why you're in the business, right, for those big events.

We've been fortunate–we've had some amazing TVG Pacific Classics with California Chrome and Beholder and Shared Belief. Then, of course, going back to the first runnings of the Pacific Classic with Best Pal and when Dare and Go upset Cigar.

It's a race with a ton of history that's been around just since the nineties, but if you think about all those races I just mentioned, it's got a pretty rich tradition. Hopefully, we'll be able to see a superstar like Flightline compete and add to that.

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The following table is an analysis of the average field sizes during the first 15 weeks of the Santa Anita Winter meet–a timeframe excluding Santa Anita Derby weekend–over the past five years.

In tandem with the above numbers, total handle for the meet thus far–including last weekend–decreased by 1% between last year and this, a number that comes out to nearly $8 million. That's with one extra race-day compared to last year.

On the plus side, the gross purse generation increased by 3%–for a total of $766,728–during that same period, though again with one extra race-day this year.

Arguably the biggest takeaway from the above field size table is that since 2018–that now seemingly carefree yesteryear before a welfare crisis and global pandemic wrought pandemonium–average field numbers have been on a general downward trend.

And despite average turf field sizes routinely outpacing their cousins on the dirt, even this more robust prong of the racing product is showing diminished returns when compared to just five years before.

The tale of field sizes is hardly a novel headache this year. After just six weeks into the track's current six-month sojourn, attenuated numbers prompted track management to ply a slightly different course with adjustments to what claiming races are offered, the conditions of certain maiden races, and to the length of the condition book itself.

In fairness, March's returns show improvement over the two prior months. Indeed, the overall March field size–combining dirt and turf–was marginally higher than that posted for the same month last year.

Still, when it comes to the overall health and competitiveness of Santa Anita's racing product–at least within this 15-week window–there's no escaping an imperious white-haired presence: The Bob Baffert factor on the dirt.

Over the past five years on the dirt, that trainer's percentage of overall starts, percentage of accrued purse money, and percentage of overall wins has been an upward curve.

To put the above table into perspective, during the first 15 weeks of the current season one out of every five dollars available in dirt race purse monies has funnelled into the Baffert barn.

His stable alone–one of 127 separate barns with at least one start on the dirt this season–was responsible for nearly 15% of wins on the dirt.

The concentration of firepower towards the head of the table–something the TDN has discussed before–isn't peculiar to that lone stable, however.

Here are some of the key findings from an analysis of the relative impact of the numerically larger barns during the first 15 weeks of the Santa Anita Winter meet, comparing the current season's numbers to 2018:

• In 2018, 10 trainers won 40% of all available dirt races during the first 15 weeks. This year, ten trainers have won nearly 55% of dirt races.
• Five years ago, the top ten money earning trainers made 28% of all dirt starts. This year, the top ten conditioners made 31.4% of all dirt starts—not an especially notable increase.

In terms of starts, however, this trend is more pronounced when both surfaces are examined together.

• In 2018 during the first 15 weeks, the top ten trainers in terms of prize money earned made 27.4% of all starts (dirt and turf). This year, the top 10 barns made nearly 35% of all starts.
• Five years ago, the top five trainers in terms of prize money made 16% of all starts during the first 15 weeks. This year, the top five barns made nearly 23.4% of all starts—close to a quarter of that sum.

With all this in mind, the TDN posed the following question to three key industry players, including Santa Anita general manager, Nate Newby, who responded with the following statement:

“Santa Anita is very aware of the importance of improving our field size. It's a top priority right now, second only to safety, and we plan to make a significant investment. Discussions are currently taking place both within our company and with our industry partners and stakeholders. I expect several initiatives to be finalized soon.”

Question: Given carte blanche, what three key modifications would you make to improve field sizes at Santa Anita and why?

Gary Fenton, chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), and managing partner of Little Red Feather Racing

1: “What's really interesting this year is our horse population in Southern California is relatively flat versus 2021,” said Fenton, pointing out how “field size reduction and a drop in population are generally related.”

The TOC, he said, has opened a dialogue with the trainers as to why entries are down, especially as the number of workers in the morning is similarly comparable to recent years. “Hopefully these are identifiable issues we can correct,” he said.

“One key stat” concerns the operations of Peter Miller, Fenton said. The numerically powerful Miller embarked last November on a temporary hiatus from training, handing over the reins of his barn to assistant, Ruben Alvarado.

Alvarado, Fenton added, is making “far fewer starts” than his former employer. “This fact alone is, I suspect, 25% of the field size reduction.”

Note: The TDN examined Fenton's observation about the number of starters that Alvarado has made thus far at Santa Anita compared to his former employer.

    In 2021, Miller made 157 starts during the first 15-weeks of the Santa Anita meet. This year, Alvarado has made 80–almost half of Miller's 2021 total.

2: “Another is our turf population and [turf] field sizes remain strong,” said Fenton, advocating for more turf racing, “even if that means expanding the turf course.”

Could an expanded grass menu arrive hand-in-hand with a new all-weather track, a natural cousin of the turf?

That depends, said Fenton. Many of his constituents at the TOC might baulk at such a proposition.

“If it's turf-Tapeta-dirt, I think I'm okay. If it means taking out the dirt, replacing it with all-weather, I think that's a larger conversation, especially in my position with a lot of different members,” he said.

3: “Lastly, we need to find a way to keep incentivizing ownership of [Cal]-breds,” said Fenton. “It's still 40% of our field size and a big reason our handle remains secure.”

What kind of incentives could that include? “You could do a lot of things,” he said, pointing to plans already in the works to expand Cal-bred opportunities in certain condition races, and his support for the Golden State Series.

“I think the Maiden Special Weight bonus is really important to Cal-breds,” said. “Without it, we'd be in some trouble. Anything we can do to help, really.”

Alan Balch, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers

1: “If this was an uncomplicated situation, we wouldn't have this problem,” said Balch. “But it is a very complicated situation, this field size issue, particularly in California, which is an island unto itself.”

The first port of call, therefore, should be “urgent, strategic planning and brainstorming with all parties at the table, in the same place, at the same time,” he said.

“Everyone brings a different perspective,” Balch added. “We believe California needs to be looked at as a whole, particularly given the fact that The Stronach Group owns Santa Anita and Golden Gate. This is not the kind of serious problem that is going to be resolved in any kind of piecemeal basis.”

2: “Clearly,” said Balch, “there is an imbalance, which we believe is of historic proportion, between the so-called major trainers—that is trainers with very large stables—and the smaller trainers.”

The data needs to be analyzed to determine whether the number of “middle-sized trainers” has shrunk completely “or is a lot smaller” than it used to be, he said.

As for a fix, “we believe no subject should be off the table for strategic brainstorming,” Balch said. “This includes purse redistribution, trainer bonuses for running, incentives for smaller to mid-sized trainers and owners.”

This subject, he said, “is the type of thing where the owners and trainers' organizations need to collaborate and get to a unified position. California is the only state that the owners and trainers are in separate organizations, which is potentially part of the problem, as it inhibits free communication. We think that needs to be overcome.”

3: “The decisions must be made on basis of objective data,” said Balch. “For a sport that generates so much data, it seems so often decisions are made without reliance on the objective data.”

Not only must the data be gathered in the first place, “it must be interpreted by all of us together,” he added.

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Overall, $942,589,741 was wagered in March, a 2.37% decline from $965,453,678 in March of 2021. The number of race days conducted was nearly identical, with 291 being run this March compared to 292 last year, making the average wagering per race day $3,239,140, down 2.03% from last March's average of $3,306,348. Purses rose 6.15% to $86,833,249 this March compared to $81,798,689 from last year. Average field size dropped 3.03% from 7.59 horses per race to 7.36.

Through the first quarter of 2022, a total of $2,796,360,290 has been bet, a 1.09% increase from $2,766,166,337 in 2021. However, with 807 race days having been run through March this year compared to 766 by the same point in 2021, average wagering per race day is down 4.04% at $3,465,130 compared to $3,611,183. Purses are clearly outpacing last year's numbers at $244,753,188, a 13.84% increase from 2021's first quarter total of $214,998,157, while field size for the first quarter averaged 7.56, a 3% decrease from 7.79 in 2021.

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Equibase is continuing to provide monthly reporting of its Economic Indicators Advisories as a service to the industry and in consideration of the economic changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Advisory is typically disseminated on a quarterly basis to provide key metrics used to measure racing's performance throughout the year.

Total wagering on U.S. races saw a slight decline in January, dropping 1.82 percent from the first month of 2021 to the first month of 2022. With the 1.57 percent increase in race days, average wagering per race day also declined by 3.34 percent.

Compared to the first months of 2020 and 2019, however, total wagering was up 7.65 percent and 19.98 percent, respectively.

U.S. purses showed renewed strength to begin 2022, up by 15.48 percent compared to the same period last year, rising above $82 million. That figure is up by 13.85 percent since 2020, and by 4.71 percent since 2019.

Field size is down by 4.12 percent over last year, and by more than two percent compared to 2020 and 2019.

2020 Comparison:

2019 Comparison:

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Total handle on U.S. races in 2021 topped $12 billion, reaching the highest figure since 2009. That number represents an 11.86 percent increase over wagering in 2020 ($10.9B), and an increase of 10.74 percent compared to 2019 ($11B).

By comparison, the 2009 wagering total of $12.3 billion came from a total of 49,368 races. The 2021 wagering totals were from 33,567 races, a 32 percent decline in the number of races.

Race days and starts both increased over 2020, which is expected after the pandemic shut down much of the U.S.'s live racing last year, but average field size showed a decline of 7.2 percent from 2020 to 2021. Over the same period, despite an increase of 10 percent in average purses per race day, average wagering per race day showed a 9.29 percent decline.

As compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019, however, average wagering per race day showed an over 20 percent increase in 2021 as the number of race days fell by 7.98 percent. That's despite the average field size dropping from 7.53 in 2019 to 7.37 in 2021.

Total purses showed the largest percentage increase from 2020 to 2021, up 35.77 percent and 10.09 percent per race day.

Overall, the numbers suggest the horse racing industry is recovering from the pandemic, but also that it is struggling to retain field size as foal crops have declined in numbers.

2019 Comparisons:

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