SPA Wrapup: Small decline in attendance and handle

From the NY Daily News

Saratoga sees ending after season marked with tragedy and triumph

At Saratoga, horses were running often to fill the race cards. Entering Monday’s card, there were 96 horses who started three times at the meeting and another nine who ran four times in 40 days.

By Jerry Bossert

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Forty days and a record 420 races later, the Saratoga racing season finally crossed the wire.

Despite the extra races, and for the most part beautiful weather, business was relatively flat or even down slightly; New York Racing Association officials won’t release the final numbers until Tuesday.

On Wednesday, it was revealed that the NYRA was operating at a $10.3 million loss through the first six months of 2013 without the VLT revenue from the casino at Aqueduct included. With VLT revenue, NYRA was showing a profit of $8.2 million. A majority of the $10.3 million loss came from a reduction in racing days over the winter and spring for safety reasons.

However, at Saratoga, horses were running often to fill the race cards. Entering Monday’s card, there were 96 horses who started three times at the meeting and another nine who ran four times in 40 days.

When asked if that frequency was safe, NYRA CEO and president Chris Kay said he wouldn’t comment on safety.

This year there were five race-day fatalities compared to four in 2012, when 417 races were conducted.

Of the five, none was worse than the death of the popular 7-year-old gelding Saginaw, who had to be euthanized on Friday when he was injured making his 41st career start, having won 21 of them.

Two jockeys suffered fractures, with Joel Rosario breaking his left foot and Jose Lezcano his left wrist in separate spills.

Despite the lows, there were plenty of highlights, led by horses trained by Todd Pletcher. There was reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan taking the Fourstardave Handicap and trainer Wayne Lukas winning the Travers for the third time.