Memorial Day at Belmont is now on life support? That couldn't be farther from the truth.

Those new turf races should get gigantic fields.

ya really think he's the only one skipping memorial day for the super Belmont? life support may be a little strong but memorial day is going to resemble more like your average weekday then the met mile days of old...just my opinion of course...only so many wagering dollars to go around

Can you give me the handle for Memorial Day over the last, say, ten years please. Then, give me the average weekday handle at Belmont for that time of year. Thanks in advance.

http://www.drf.com/news/aqueduct-nyr...-gotham-stakes

Not sure why this is newsworthy but this one line made me smile

"Kay said he was sick, feeling the effects of what he said has been a vigorous work schedule that “took its toll. [Saturday], I got up and felt awful. I certainly intended to be there to present the trophy.”"

Here's the thing- The Met being on Memorial Day/Memorial weekend: I think people's family/friend/work plans dictate whether they have time to go to Belmont/simulcast regardless if the Met Mile is happening or not.

So I don't see how there would be THAT much of drop-off in handle/attendance that weekend, because holiday weekend plans are holiday weekend plans. I mean sure, a big G1 race like that can only help those numbers, but I don't think the impact is that big.

Here you go, the average handle for the last ten Memorial Day cards at BEL is $15,057,854.10, ranging from a low of $13,046,747 in 2011 to a high of $17,127,488 back in '04. The average handle for the race day following Memorial Day (usually Thursday but they did run on Wednesday once) is $7, 283,730.10 ranging from $5,634,793 in '12 to $10,123,254 in '07 ($262k pick six carryover that day tho)

To say it will be like a regular weekday is obviously hyperbole, but if you were to set the over/under total handle at $15 million, I would take the under.

so...memorial average is double the daily average, but being the brave soul, you'd take the under.

who can argue with that? :rolleyes:

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I was saying that this year's Memorial Day handle would be under $15 mil, as that was what the discussion was about, whether taking the Met Mile off the Memorial Day card would significantly impact handle. Five of the last 10 years they've handled over $15 million, four times they've gone over 16 million. So I thought setting the over/under at $15 million seemed like a reasonable number.

I'm not exactly sure what the discussion was about, but I appreciate you researching the numbers. What the discussion REALLY should be about, at least from a handle perspective, is whether or not the impact of moving the Met Mile to Belmont Day will positively affect the overall handle between the two days. In other words, will the increase we get from the Met Mile versus whatever race we would have run on Belmont Day, overcome any possible losses of handle on Memorial Day. Given last year's Met Mile, a super race by any account, was $1.7 million, I cannot understand any argument that thinks this will not be the case. And, this isn't even taking into account the increased percent we get on our simulcast rates on Belmont Day.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that by bunching all of these big races on one day, and substantially increasing their purses, you greatly increase the possibility of getting shippers. Imagine the trainer that has one horse to ship to the Met Mile but opts not to, as shipping just one horse may not make sense to him. Now, with many additional Stakes over the two day period, that same trainer may find three or four horses in his ( or her ) barn to ship. This can increase the number of planes coming from California and thus increase overall participation.

There are a lot of factors to consider. Focusing in on the possible negative effects this change will have on the Memorial Day handle is, at best, a narrow minded approach. It's also grossly misunderstanding the bigger picture.

Would be nice for nyra to get ticketing information out

Belmont Stakes Day pricing, hospitality features announced


http://www.nyra.com/belmont/springsu...CN8GkE.twitter

anyone have a belmont stakes presale code?

This is gonna be HUGE!

Will you be attending?

Figuring out if moving the Met to Belmont day was a net handle builder just got more complicated. Now the analysis requires the inclusion of potential TC winner. Not an easy figure to put your hands around

Have tickets been mailed yet? Ordered first onsale date and still waiting