BC can't answer handle figs honestly: "It's the field size, stupid"

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Kasept

2009 Cup attendance up at SA (thanks to smarter ticket pricing policy).. Handle was off a small amount, but BC can't be honest about it... "It's the economy" they said. No. It's not... It's the watering down of the event with superfluous races like the Marathon and Dirt Mile; the embarrassing field size of 8-9 in sacrosanct original Cup races the Distaff, Sprint, and Turf; and the lack commitment/interest from horseplayers that are put off by the synthetic surface.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/108818.html

Ontrack handle showed gains both days despite one fewer race carded per day compared to 2008. Saturday's ontrack handle reached $12,177,982, a gain of 3 percent.

The common-pool handle on Saturday reached $96,159,747, a loss of 6 percent from last year's corresponding day. Friday's common-pool handle of $48,439,458 was a decrease of 1 percent.

Officials blamed a slow economy for the drop in common-pool betting.

This #1
The commitment to large wagers just isn't there on the synthetics for 90% of players.

Would like to see handle per race to see how correlated field size was. The Turf probably had the weakest year over year handle, but I wouldn't necessarily blame the small field on it but rather the fact that it just wasn't a compelling betting race. A heavy favorite and 4 no-chancers, but quite honestly that's not surprising given the shape of the American turf division this year.

Also need to factor in probably $1,000,000 in wagers were refunded when Quality Road scratched at the gate.