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Photo: Pat Lang |
(From Turfway Park)
Turfway Park closed its 2008 Holiday Meet with slight increases in average daily handle both on-track and from all sources. Daily on-track wagering on Turfway races was $127,992, an increase of 0.3%, while daily all-sources wagering on Turfway races was $2,775,799, up 1.8%.
“In light of the current economy, we are pleased to post even slight gains in activity,” said Turfway Park president Robert N. Elliston. “I’ve seen blog comments that argue who’s more important to tracks today, players or fans. We don’t answer the question as either-or but as both. For players, our horsemen allowed us to offer attractive field sizes—10.4 compared to 10.1 last year.
In 2008, one full card was lost to frigid wind-chill temperatures. Two were lost to the track’s tradition of closing Christmas Eve and Christmas day, which in 2008 fell on Wednesday and Thursday; in 2007, the two days fell on Monday and Tuesday, when the track was already scheduled to be dark. The remaining difference resulted from a shift in the calendar that put opening day three days earlier in 2007.
Racing six fewer days in 2008, the track posted $2,687,822 in on-track wagering for the meet, a 22% decline, and $58,323,060 in all-sources wagering, a drop of 20.9%.
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