Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Handle Increases
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
A crowd of 57,729 turned out for the Belmont Stakes June 10 at Belmont Park
Total handle for the Belmont Stakes Day card June 10 at Belmont Park | BloodHorse.com Track Profile">Belmont Park was down 5.8% to $93,666,832 although handle for the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival increased 1.6% to $124,740,193.
The New York Racing Association reported Belmont day attendance of 57,729 (down 4%) versus the 60,114 who turned out last year, which like this year did not have a Triple Crown on the line. In the previous year a Triple Crown was not on the line before 2016, Saturday's attendance was up more than 10,000 from 2013 when 47,562 turned out to see Palace Malice win.
The on-track handle for Belmont Stakes day 2017 was $11,594,599, virtually unchanged from 2016's on-track handle of $11,694,897. All-sources wagering on the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) itself was $47,163,773.
On-track handle for Thursday and Friday of the festival cards was a combined $4.13 million, a more than 18% increase from 2016. Total handle for the two days was $31.07 million, an increase of more than 32% over the same period last year.
This year's Belmont Stakes also featured betting in Japan, in a non-comingled pool. The total Belmont Stakes handle from Japan, which is not included in the all-source handle figure, was $4,698,525. That wagering was expected to be higher until Japan-based Epicharis was scratched Saturday morning from the Belmont Stakes.