U.S. racing

This Saturday at Santa Anita could prove something of a watershed moment in North American horse racing--the carding of two handicaps built upon a new national ratings system. One race, a $35,000 handicap over six furlongs for dirt horses rated between 70 and 79, has drawn seven entries. The next race on the card, a $65,000 handicap over 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course for fillies and mares rated between 80 and 95, has drawn six entries. The impetus for launching a ratings system in the U.S. has...

Wagering dipped compared to a year ago in June, but so did the number of race days, according to information released by Equibase on Friday. Total wagering of $956,784,146 on races during the month represented a 7.18% decrease over the same period from 2024, while available purses of over $114 million were lower by 5.87%. The figure of over $110 million for paid purses in June was also down by 5.95%. As for the total number of race days, they also decreased from 408 to 380 (-6.86%) and the number...

Racehorse owner Marc Chan saw his silks in the spotlight not once, but twice last week at Glorious Goodwood when Angel Bleu (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) supplied a significant Tuesday double in the G2 Vintage S. and G2 Lennox S. And while the rise of Chan--an owner in Britain for just a year--to the pinnacle of the sport seems to have happened suddenly, it is in fact the apex of a lifelong passion that was sparked when Chan started going to the races with his...

Despite the rise in the COVID-19 infection rate in many states around the country, wagering on U.S. races managed to remain relatively stable, with only a slight dip from 2019 figures. A total of $895,325,220 was wagered last month, down 6.33% from November of 2019. Year-to-date figures decreased only 1.48% from $10,326,096,182 bet in 2019. Both figures include worldwide commingled wagering on U.S. races. In November, average wagering per race day jumped by 35.49% up to $3,996,998, while the year-to-date figure showed a similar pattern, rising by 33.78% to $3,310,512....

The Thoroughbred Racing Economic indicators for the month of May released by Equibase Thursday reflected the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which halted racing in March. Including worldwide commingled wagering on U.S. races, wagering was down 30.16% ($908,504,654) from May of 2019 (1,300,923,869). Other figures that showed marked decreases in 2020: • U.S. Purses - $31,971.002 (-72.39%) • U.S. Race days - 123 (-450) • U.S. Races - 1,059 (-70.99%) • U.S. Starts - 9,145 (-64.77%) Figures which showed increases over the corresponding period in 2019 included: Average Field Size,...