Tag: The Biz

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has announced that the recently concluded Belmont Park spring/summer meet generated $13,437,509 in average daily handle.

With this year's two percent increase over 2021, average daily handle at the Belmont Park spring/summer meet has risen 23.1 percent since 2019.

On-track handle for the 2022 spring/summer meet totaled $57,531,001, an increase of 16.6 percent over the 2021 figure of $49,343,664.

All-sources handle for the 44-day spring/summer meet totaled $591,250,409, which compares to $632,208,251 in 2021 when the meet was contested over 48 days.

The June 11 Belmont Stakes Day card, highlighted by Mo Donegal's victory in the 154th running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, generated all-sources handle of $98,766,906.

Average field size for the 419 races run during the 2022 spring/summer meet was 7.35, a 3.6 percent decline from the 2021 average of 7.62. The 2022 spring/summer meet saw 233 races on dirt and 186 on the turf. 26 races were forced off the turf due to weather.

Highlighted by the 153rd renewal of the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers on August 27 and the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on August 6, the 2022 summer meet at historic Saratoga Race Course will open on Thursday, July 14, and continue through Monday, September 5.

Following the four-day opening weekend, racing will be conducted five days a week, Wednesdays through Sundays, apart from the final week, when the meet will conclude on Labor Day.

Saratoga Live will present daily coverage and analysis of the summer meet at on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit NYRA.com/SaratogaLive.

For additional information, visit NYRA.com.

The post Average Daily Handle Ticks Up During Belmont Spring/Summer Meet appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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This year, as regulators and racing/gaming executives make their annual summer pilgrimage to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., another edition of a long-running law conference will be on the agenda for many. Launched in 2001, the Racing and Gaming Conference at Saratoga will see its second edition under new management this year Aug. 15-17.

Attorney Patrick Brown, co-founder of Brown & Weinraub, fully took over the popular event from the Albany Law School ahead of last year's edition.

Find some of our archived coverage from this conference here, here, and here.

After many years being involved with organizing it, Brown said he's learned a few lessons from running it himself, many of them logistical. The event will return to the Saratoga Hilton after being held at the 1863 Club on the racetrack's dark days last year.

Brown has continued the gradual shift of the event away from law school-style lectures (though the event still does offer continuing education credit for attorneys) and more discussion-based panels.

“The conference is not intended to be a mere lecture hall, but more a salon,” he said. “A place where smart, committed people exchange ideas on topics of mutual interest; formally in the large panel sessions and informally in smaller groups in the hallway. The goal is to not only report on the latest changes in law and regulation but to inform the discussion leading to the next law or reg.

“To accomplish our goals we must find speakers who are not only capable of telling the audience what happened last year, but willing to risk an opinion on what ought to happen next year. I am very pleased with the group of speakers we have assembled for the conference this year and look forward to a robust exchange of ideas.”

This year's agenda will include one and a half days of sessions, one of which will be focused on various forms of gaming. The half day on Aug. 17 will examine racing topics.

Why the shift towards more gaming-focused sessions?

“The conference has evolved over the past two decades,” said Brown. “When the conference began in 2001, parimutuel wagering on horse racing and the lottery were the only legal wagering opportunities available in New York. VLTs had yet to be approved by the legislature. The conference was a single day, dealt almost exclusively with New York horse racing, and was geared to lawyers and legislative staff. Twenty-two years later, wagering on horse racing does not stand alone; it is part of a broad array of gambling options. New York does not stand alone; gambling proliferation and therefore regulation is national and international. And, the issues confronting the gambling industry are not purely legal, sometimes they are not legal at all.

“Last, this year particularly, many of the 'nuts and bolts' horseman issues we might address are being covered at the Thoroughbred Owner Conference being held in Saratoga in late July. Rather than duplicate the excellent work being done there, we placed our priorities elsewhere this year.”

Tuesday's sessions include panels looking at the downstate casino expansion, the future of sports betting, and online casinos. Wednesday's racing sessions include looks at HISA, the impacts of NFTs and the Metaverse on horse racing, fixed odds wagering, and aftercare.

To see the full agenda, click here.

Register for the event here.

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The Indiana Thoroughbred Alliance (ITA) is proud of have the approval from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) for three credit hours for continuing education for its barn fire seminar that will be held on Saturday, July 16. This seminar will present what horsemen and barn owners need to do to be better prepared for a fire and will be hosted in the Family Pavilion at Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville, Ind., at 10:00 a.m.

“We are so grateful that HISA sees the value in our seminar to grant local horsemen the opportunity to earn three hours in person at their home track,” says Christine Cagle, ITA board member and Thoroughbred farm owner.

According to the HISA Trainer's Handbook, all trainers and assistant trainers are required to complete four hours of continuing education every year. The approved continuing education programs will be identified on the HISA website, which includes online courses.

“Because the ITA feels so passionately about educating everyone not only in the Indiana horse racing industry, but across the country, about barn fires, it was a big goal for us to garner this accreditation from HISA,” continues Cagle.

The National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) is also partnering with the ITA to sponsor and share the seminar on its website once the seminar has been recorded and archived.

“We found a source to help us livestream and record the seminar, thanks to ShowBarnFlix.com, so this seminar can continue to educate barn owners long after July 16,” says Megan Arszman, communications and media relations liaison for the ITA.

The livestream of the seminar will begin at 10:30 am EDT and can be found on ShowBarnFlix.com or on the ITA Facebook page: Facebook.com/IndyThoroughbred.

However, as of press time, HISA credits can only be earned if attending the seminar in-person at Horseshoe Indianapolis on July 16.

Topics covered for the seminar will include discussing the legal ramifications of a barn fire with Peter. Horsewoman and insurance expert Kim Green with Schuetz Insurance will share the insurance information you didn't need to know. Horse owners will learn about rescuing, emergency triage and what to do with the animals in the midst of the fire with firefighter and certified large animal rescuer Denise Fletcher. And, finally, member of ATF and horsewoman Cassandra Jones shares tips on what you can do to prevent and battle barn fires.

Attendees will be treated to lunch on the breezeway of Horseshoe Indianapolis and everyone will be eligible for giveaways provided by sponsors such as the ITA, Finish Line Horse Products, the Quarter Horse Racing Association of Indiana, the Indiana Standardbred Association, Murphy Trailer Sales and others.

The seminar is free, but registration is required. Registration can be done by clicking on the EventBrite link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/barn-fires-what-you-think-you-know-but-dont-tickets-355520159367

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Ontario Racing's Thoroughbred Improvement Program Committee has continued its commitment to the Ontario Sire Heritage Series, by increasing the purse for each leg to $100,000 raising the total purse value of the Ontario Sire Heritage Series to $800,000.

Established in 2021, the Ontario Sire Heritage Series is comprised of three opening legs and a $100,000 final for two divisions: 3-year-old colts/geldings, and 3-year-old fillies. In 2022, as a result of the increase, all three legs of the series will be worth $100,000 each.

All three legs and the final are contested over different distances and surfaces: the Woodbine Inner Turf Course, the Woodbine E.P. Taylor Turf Course, the Fort Erie Dirt Track, and the Woodbine Main Track.

“These opportunities are critical to support our Ontario Sired program,” said Colleen Dalos, from Ontario breeder Tall Oaks Farm. “The more that we can do to add incentives and motivation to help our local breeders, the better. So, this is a very positive step forward.”

In addition, to the $400,000 in purses for each division there is $70,000 in bonus money that is allocated to the top-three finishers in each division at the end of the series. Last season Lorena, a 3-year-old filly led all participants with $108,000 in purse earnings, and $20,000 in bonus money by winning the Thunder Bay Stakes, and the final the Ashbridges Bay Stakes.

Nominations close July 20 for the opening Legs of the Ontario Sire Heritages Series, which will be contested Aug. 7 at five furlongs on the Woodbine Inner Turf Course.

The full schedule and breakdown of the purse structure for the Ontario Sire Heritage Series is available here.

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