Wagering on U.S. races during the month of January experienced just over a six percent downswing from a year ago, but the number of race days was roughly 12 percent lower, according to information released by Equibase on Thursday.
Total wagering of $753,930,913 on races during the month represented a 6.09% decrease over the same period from 2025, while available purses of over $73-million were lower by almost 13%.
The figure of over $68.5-million for paid purses in January was also down by 13.69%. As for the total number of race days, they decreased from 233 to 205 (-12.02%) and the number of U.S. races was lower from 1,995 in January 2025 to last month's tally of 1,724 (-13.58%).
Average field size in January was down a touch from over a year ago when it was 8.14, and checked in at an average of 7.92 runners, a decrease of 2.67%. However, the average daily wagering metric increased by 6.74% to $3,677,712, and the average available purse number per race day was down 1.03% to $356,718 from the figure of $360,437 in 2025.
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