Great to hear with the popularity of River Boats. Maybe we will get the tracks hot again.
Over $600 Miliion
Fueled by record-shattering wagering on the Kentucky Derby, strong growth in simulcast betting, and a rebound in on-track wagering and attendance, Churchill Downs saw total wagering surpass $600 million for the first time during its 129th Spring Meet that drew to a close on Sunday, July 6.
Total betting on the 52-day meet that ran from April 26 through July 6 rose to a record $649,168,043, an increase of more than 17 percent from the previous record of $553,203,055 established in 2002. The 2003 total included all money wagered on-track (including wholecard simulcasting at Churchill Downs) and at simulcast centers throughout North America. The daily average for total wagering was $12,484,001 - an increase of more than 17 percent from the 2002 average of $10,638,520.
That total contains another record day of wagering on the track's premier event, the Kentucky Derby (Grade I). The 129th running of America's greatest race established North American records for wagering on a single day and an individual race. Total wagering on the 11-race Derby Day card was $140,379,426, a gain of 14 percent from the previous record of $123,243,188 established on the 2002 Derby. Betting on the Derby itself totaled $87,805,197 - an increase of 11 percent from the previous standard of $79,095,311 wagered on the Derby a year earlier.
The largest gains in the Spring Meet were recorded in off-track wagering, which surged to a record $555,483,053 - the first time off-track wagering on Churchill Downs races had surpassed $500 million in a single meet. The off-track betting figure reflects an increase of more than 20 percent from the previous record of $461,039,759 that was established in 2002. Off-track wagering averaged $10,682,366 per day during the meet, an increase of more than 20 percent from the 2002 daily average of $8,866,149.
While the total and off-track wagering figures continued a trend of annual increases, on-track wagering and attendance at Churchill Downs rose after several years of declines in both areas. A daily racing product that featured large fields of high quality horses, a strong series of promotions and special events and the track's continued commitment to expand and improve its guest services contributed to increases in both areas. The track also enjoyed favorable weather through most of the meet and wagering received a boost from a pair of large Pick Six carryovers that ranked among the largest since Churchill Downs began offering the wager in 1984.
Those factors contributed to total on-track wagering of $93,684,990 during the 52-day session, which was an increase of nearly two percent from the 2002 total of $92,163,296. Attendance for the meet totaled 716,212, an increase of nearly six percent from the 677,876 recorded during the previous Spring Meet.
Average daily on-track wagering for the meet was $1,801,634, an increase of nearly two percent from the 2002 total of $1,772,371. Average daily attendance was 13,773, a gain of nearly six percent from the daily average of 13,036 that passed through the track's turnstiles the previous year.
"The positive results of the 2003 Spring Meet at Churchill Downs are gratifying because those gains came despite the pressures of growing and maturing competition in our market, and increasing competition from within our industry from other racing states," said Steve Sexton, president of Churchill Downs. "The good news from this Spring Meet is the result of a marvelous team effort by our talented and dedicated employees, the horsemen who have participated in our races, and the loyal fans who have supported Churchill Downs racing at our track and in simulcast centers throughout North America. Our gratitude goes out to members of our team and our horsemen for a job well done, and we extend our thanks to racing fans who have proven again that they love the brand of racing offered by Churchill Downs. During this meet we were able to regain a bit of the ground that we have lost since the arrival of new gaming and entertainment competition in our market in late 1998, but Churchill Downs' bid to be competitive and attract new fans remains a significant long-term effort."
Race purses for the 2003 Spring Meet remained among the highest in American racing and rose slightly from the previous year's spring session. Purses paid during the Spring Meet totaled $22,787,900 - an increase of 0.16 percent from $22,751,753 offered during the same meet one year earlier. Daily purses averaged $438,229 - an increase of 0.16 percent from the 2002 average of $437,534. Races at the Spring Meet averaged 8.89 starters per race, one of the highest figures in American racing and an increase from the 8.53 starters per race in the 2002 Spring Meet.
The 2003 Spring Meet got off to a rousing start when Sackatoga Stable's Funny Cide upset favored Empire Maker to win the 129th Kentucky Derby. Funny Cide was the first New York-bred to win the Derby and the first gelding to wear the roses since 1929. The victory was the first for veteran trainer Barclay Tagg and jockey Jose Santos and was witnessed by a crowd of 148,530, the fifth largest in Derby history. One day earlier a Kentucky Oaks crowd of 100,523, the fifth largest ever, watched jockey Edgar Prado ride Marylou Whitney's Bird Town to an upset win in the 129th Oaks. It was the first Oaks victory for trainer Nick Zito, who already had a pair of Kentucky Derby victories to his credit.
Outside of the Derby and Oaks, the stakes competition may have been the strongest in the history of the track and it was dominated by Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, who tied a record for a non-Spring/Summer meet at Churchill Downs with six stakes victories - including three on Kentucky Derby Day alone. The Eclipse Award-winning Frankel scored Derby Day stakes victories with Flaxman Holding's Aldebaran in the Churchill Downs Handicap (GII) and Juddmonte Farm homebreds Sightseek in the Humana Distaff (GI) and Heat Haze in the Citgo Distaff Turf Mile (GIII). Edmund Gann's You scored a pair of stakes victories for Frankel in the Louisville Breeders' Cup (GII) and Fleur de Lis (GII) and Gann's Midas Eyes won the Derby Trial (GIII).
The race of the meet may have been the 22nd running of the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap in which an on-track crowd of 12,483 and a national audience on CBS Sports watched Stonecrest Farm's Perfect Drift edge William S. Farish, Temple Webber, Jr. and James Elkins' Mineshaft by a head following a stretch-long duel. The win by Perfect Drift, who was trained by Murray Johnson and ridden by Pat Day, was the highlight of "Stephen Foster Super Saturday," which also included the win by You in the Fleur de Lis, a front-running win by Willmott Stable's Sand Springs in the Regret (GIII), and a romp by Lloyd Madison Farm's Champali in the Northern Dancer Stakes. Total wagering on the 11-race "Stephen Foster Super Saturday" card was a record for the day of $14,731,015.
Another highlight of the meet was the successful American debut of Team Valor, WinStar Farm and Sunmark Partners' Ipi Tombe in the Locust Grove Handicap (GIII). The Zimbabwe-bred mare achieved superstar status in Africa and Dubai before she launched her U.S. campaign with the win at Churchill Downs for trainer Elliott Walden.
Honor In War scored the first Grade I victory for Louisville-based 3rd Turn Stable when he took the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI). Dogwood Stable's Limehouse took two of the track's three stakes events for 2-year-olds as the Todd Pletcher-trained colt won the Three Chimneys Juvenile on Derby Day and the 102nd running of the Bashford Manor (GIII) on closing day of the meet. Winchell Thoroughbred's 2-year-old Cuvee was an easy winner of the Kentucky Breeders' Cup (GIII) for trainer Steve Asmussen, who also scored stakes wins during the meet with Mountain General in the Aristides (GIII) and Posse in the Matt Winn Stakes. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas notched a 1-2 finish in the 103rd Debutante Stakes (GIII) for 2-year-old fillies with Tom Van Meter II's Be Gentle and Robert and Beverly Lewis' Renaissance Lady. The Lewises' Senor Swinger emerged as a rising turf star with dominating Grade III victories for trainer Bob Baffert in the Jefferson Cup and Crown Royal American Turf.
Other notable stakes victories included wins by Stanley Ettinger's Tap The Admiral in the Firecracker Breeders' Cup (GII); Carl Pollard's Kiss The Devil in the Early Times Mint Julep (GIII); John and Kim Glenney's Kim Loves Bucky in the Louisville Handicap (GIII); James Tafel's Fiscally Speaking in the Aegon Turf Sprint (GIII); and the Phoebe Mueller Trust's Full Spectrum took the Mamzelle.
The $100,000 Hard Scuffle Steeplechase, the track's only race over jumps and a National Steeplechase Association Grade I event, was won by William Lickle's Trebizond.
Newcomer Cornelio Velasquez earned the Spring Meet jockey title in his first full meet at Churchill Downs and ended a string of seven consecutive spring crowns by Pat Day, the track's all-time win leader. The 34-year-old native of Panama scored 63 wins to roll past Day, who was the runner-up with 51 victories. John McKee, who had broken riding legend Steve Cauthen's record for Fall Meet wins by an apprentice jockey in 2002, finished third in the Spring Meet jockeys race with 42 wins despite losing his apprentice allowance on June 5. The 21-year-old McKee earned his first-ever Churchill Downs stakes win aboard Tap The Admiral in the Firecracker Breeders' Cup.
Trainer Dale Romans claimed sole possession of the Spring Meet training title with 39 victories, a total that demolished the record for wins during a non-Spring/Summer meet set by David Vance (30) in 1981. Romans tied for the training title in the previous three Spring Meets and his current string of four consecutive spring crowns is the longest under the Twin Spires since Calumet Farm legend Ben Jones strung together five of those titles from 1937-41. Asmussen was the runner-up with 24 wins.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey continued their record-setting run as leading owners in the Spring Meet. Horses wearing the Ramseys' familiar red-and-white silks won 14 races, a total that earned the Nicholasville, Ky. couple a record fourth straight Spring Meet title and their seventh consecutive Churchill Downs title overall, which is also a track record.
http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=1349560&nav=4CANGkoF
Fueled by record-shattering wagering on the Kentucky Derby, strong growth in simulcast betting, and a rebound in on-track wagering and attendance, Churchill Downs saw total wagering surpass $600 million for the first time during its 129th Spring Meet that drew to a close on Sunday, July 6.
Total betting on the 52-day meet that ran from April 26 through July 6 rose to a record $649,168,043, an increase of more than 17 percent from the previous record of $553,203,055 established in 2002. The 2003 total included all money wagered on-track (including wholecard simulcasting at Churchill Downs) and at simulcast centers throughout North America. The daily average for total wagering was $12,484,001 - an increase of more than 17 percent from the 2002 average of $10,638,520.
That total contains another record day of wagering on the track's premier event, the Kentucky Derby (Grade I). The 129th running of America's greatest race established North American records for wagering on a single day and an individual race. Total wagering on the 11-race Derby Day card was $140,379,426, a gain of 14 percent from the previous record of $123,243,188 established on the 2002 Derby. Betting on the Derby itself totaled $87,805,197 - an increase of 11 percent from the previous standard of $79,095,311 wagered on the Derby a year earlier.
The largest gains in the Spring Meet were recorded in off-track wagering, which surged to a record $555,483,053 - the first time off-track wagering on Churchill Downs races had surpassed $500 million in a single meet. The off-track betting figure reflects an increase of more than 20 percent from the previous record of $461,039,759 that was established in 2002. Off-track wagering averaged $10,682,366 per day during the meet, an increase of more than 20 percent from the 2002 daily average of $8,866,149.
While the total and off-track wagering figures continued a trend of annual increases, on-track wagering and attendance at Churchill Downs rose after several years of declines in both areas. A daily racing product that featured large fields of high quality horses, a strong series of promotions and special events and the track's continued commitment to expand and improve its guest services contributed to increases in both areas. The track also enjoyed favorable weather through most of the meet and wagering received a boost from a pair of large Pick Six carryovers that ranked among the largest since Churchill Downs began offering the wager in 1984.
Those factors contributed to total on-track wagering of $93,684,990 during the 52-day session, which was an increase of nearly two percent from the 2002 total of $92,163,296. Attendance for the meet totaled 716,212, an increase of nearly six percent from the 677,876 recorded during the previous Spring Meet.
Average daily on-track wagering for the meet was $1,801,634, an increase of nearly two percent from the 2002 total of $1,772,371. Average daily attendance was 13,773, a gain of nearly six percent from the daily average of 13,036 that passed through the track's turnstiles the previous year.
"The positive results of the 2003 Spring Meet at Churchill Downs are gratifying because those gains came despite the pressures of growing and maturing competition in our market, and increasing competition from within our industry from other racing states," said Steve Sexton, president of Churchill Downs. "The good news from this Spring Meet is the result of a marvelous team effort by our talented and dedicated employees, the horsemen who have participated in our races, and the loyal fans who have supported Churchill Downs racing at our track and in simulcast centers throughout North America. Our gratitude goes out to members of our team and our horsemen for a job well done, and we extend our thanks to racing fans who have proven again that they love the brand of racing offered by Churchill Downs. During this meet we were able to regain a bit of the ground that we have lost since the arrival of new gaming and entertainment competition in our market in late 1998, but Churchill Downs' bid to be competitive and attract new fans remains a significant long-term effort."
Race purses for the 2003 Spring Meet remained among the highest in American racing and rose slightly from the previous year's spring session. Purses paid during the Spring Meet totaled $22,787,900 - an increase of 0.16 percent from $22,751,753 offered during the same meet one year earlier. Daily purses averaged $438,229 - an increase of 0.16 percent from the 2002 average of $437,534. Races at the Spring Meet averaged 8.89 starters per race, one of the highest figures in American racing and an increase from the 8.53 starters per race in the 2002 Spring Meet.
The 2003 Spring Meet got off to a rousing start when Sackatoga Stable's Funny Cide upset favored Empire Maker to win the 129th Kentucky Derby. Funny Cide was the first New York-bred to win the Derby and the first gelding to wear the roses since 1929. The victory was the first for veteran trainer Barclay Tagg and jockey Jose Santos and was witnessed by a crowd of 148,530, the fifth largest in Derby history. One day earlier a Kentucky Oaks crowd of 100,523, the fifth largest ever, watched jockey Edgar Prado ride Marylou Whitney's Bird Town to an upset win in the 129th Oaks. It was the first Oaks victory for trainer Nick Zito, who already had a pair of Kentucky Derby victories to his credit.
Outside of the Derby and Oaks, the stakes competition may have been the strongest in the history of the track and it was dominated by Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, who tied a record for a non-Spring/Summer meet at Churchill Downs with six stakes victories - including three on Kentucky Derby Day alone. The Eclipse Award-winning Frankel scored Derby Day stakes victories with Flaxman Holding's Aldebaran in the Churchill Downs Handicap (GII) and Juddmonte Farm homebreds Sightseek in the Humana Distaff (GI) and Heat Haze in the Citgo Distaff Turf Mile (GIII). Edmund Gann's You scored a pair of stakes victories for Frankel in the Louisville Breeders' Cup (GII) and Fleur de Lis (GII) and Gann's Midas Eyes won the Derby Trial (GIII).
The race of the meet may have been the 22nd running of the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap in which an on-track crowd of 12,483 and a national audience on CBS Sports watched Stonecrest Farm's Perfect Drift edge William S. Farish, Temple Webber, Jr. and James Elkins' Mineshaft by a head following a stretch-long duel. The win by Perfect Drift, who was trained by Murray Johnson and ridden by Pat Day, was the highlight of "Stephen Foster Super Saturday," which also included the win by You in the Fleur de Lis, a front-running win by Willmott Stable's Sand Springs in the Regret (GIII), and a romp by Lloyd Madison Farm's Champali in the Northern Dancer Stakes. Total wagering on the 11-race "Stephen Foster Super Saturday" card was a record for the day of $14,731,015.
Another highlight of the meet was the successful American debut of Team Valor, WinStar Farm and Sunmark Partners' Ipi Tombe in the Locust Grove Handicap (GIII). The Zimbabwe-bred mare achieved superstar status in Africa and Dubai before she launched her U.S. campaign with the win at Churchill Downs for trainer Elliott Walden.
Honor In War scored the first Grade I victory for Louisville-based 3rd Turn Stable when he took the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI). Dogwood Stable's Limehouse took two of the track's three stakes events for 2-year-olds as the Todd Pletcher-trained colt won the Three Chimneys Juvenile on Derby Day and the 102nd running of the Bashford Manor (GIII) on closing day of the meet. Winchell Thoroughbred's 2-year-old Cuvee was an easy winner of the Kentucky Breeders' Cup (GIII) for trainer Steve Asmussen, who also scored stakes wins during the meet with Mountain General in the Aristides (GIII) and Posse in the Matt Winn Stakes. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas notched a 1-2 finish in the 103rd Debutante Stakes (GIII) for 2-year-old fillies with Tom Van Meter II's Be Gentle and Robert and Beverly Lewis' Renaissance Lady. The Lewises' Senor Swinger emerged as a rising turf star with dominating Grade III victories for trainer Bob Baffert in the Jefferson Cup and Crown Royal American Turf.
Other notable stakes victories included wins by Stanley Ettinger's Tap The Admiral in the Firecracker Breeders' Cup (GII); Carl Pollard's Kiss The Devil in the Early Times Mint Julep (GIII); John and Kim Glenney's Kim Loves Bucky in the Louisville Handicap (GIII); James Tafel's Fiscally Speaking in the Aegon Turf Sprint (GIII); and the Phoebe Mueller Trust's Full Spectrum took the Mamzelle.
The $100,000 Hard Scuffle Steeplechase, the track's only race over jumps and a National Steeplechase Association Grade I event, was won by William Lickle's Trebizond.
Newcomer Cornelio Velasquez earned the Spring Meet jockey title in his first full meet at Churchill Downs and ended a string of seven consecutive spring crowns by Pat Day, the track's all-time win leader. The 34-year-old native of Panama scored 63 wins to roll past Day, who was the runner-up with 51 victories. John McKee, who had broken riding legend Steve Cauthen's record for Fall Meet wins by an apprentice jockey in 2002, finished third in the Spring Meet jockeys race with 42 wins despite losing his apprentice allowance on June 5. The 21-year-old McKee earned his first-ever Churchill Downs stakes win aboard Tap The Admiral in the Firecracker Breeders' Cup.
Trainer Dale Romans claimed sole possession of the Spring Meet training title with 39 victories, a total that demolished the record for wins during a non-Spring/Summer meet set by David Vance (30) in 1981. Romans tied for the training title in the previous three Spring Meets and his current string of four consecutive spring crowns is the longest under the Twin Spires since Calumet Farm legend Ben Jones strung together five of those titles from 1937-41. Asmussen was the runner-up with 24 wins.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey continued their record-setting run as leading owners in the Spring Meet. Horses wearing the Ramseys' familiar red-and-white silks won 14 races, a total that earned the Nicholasville, Ky. couple a record fourth straight Spring Meet title and their seventh consecutive Churchill Downs title overall, which is also a track record.
http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=1349560&nav=4CANGkoF
