TurfPublicists: BELMONT STAKES DAY CROWD OF 45,243 WAGERS $8,229,318 ON TRACK; ALL-SOURCES HANDLE TOTALS $74,613,144

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Contact: Dan Silver

BELMONT STAKES DAY CROWD OF 45,243 WAGERS $8,229,318 ON TRACK; ALL-SOURCES HANDLE TOTALS $74,613,144

ELMONT, N.Y. - A crowd of 45,243 wagered $7,598,840 on Belmont Stakes Day races, a 15.6 percent decrease over $8,998,630 in 2009.

An additional $630,479 was wagered at Belmont on incoming simulcasts, bringing the total on-track handle to $8,229,318 compared to $9,632,241 in 2009, the record Belmont Stakes Day on-track handle for a non-Triple Crown year.

All-sources handle, which includes all wagers made on Belmont Stakes Day races, both on-track and from incoming simulcasts, was $74,613,144, a 16.8% decrease over last year’s all-sources total of $89,705,994, the record Belmont Stakes Day all-sources handle for a non-Triple Crown year.

Betting interests for Belmont Stakes Day equaled 117, compared to 120 in 2009, 116 in 2008 and 106 in 2007.

Today’s late Pick 4 pool of $2,026,444 was the second largest in NYRA history, only trailing last year’s Belmont Stakes Day Pick 4 pool record of $2,243,069.

Today’s Pick 6 total pool including the $129,962 carryover was $1,572,462 or a 5.2% decline from the 2009 total of $1, 659,251. There is a Pick 6 carryover of $930,495 into Wednesday’s card at Belmont Park, starting with race 4 at 2:36 p.m. EDT.

“Belmont Stakes Day has provided some of history’s great moments in thoroughbred racing, and today was no exception,” said NYRA President and CEO Charles Hayward. “We saw the best three-year-olds in the country in the Belmont Stakes and were treated to a superb racing card thanks to Vice President and Director of Racing PJ Campo. Our Director of Racing Services Glen Kozak had the dirt track and turf courses in tremendous condition. I love walking around the track on Belmont Day and seeing lots of smiling faces, and our thanks go out to all of our customers and racing participants.”

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