Belmont Stakes Handle Drops Sharply, Down More Than $10M from 2021

Betting on this year’s Belmont Stakes and the other 12 races held Sabbatum at Belmont Mungo Park felled seam significantly from endure year. That’s according to a tone ending from the New York Racing Association.

NYRA reported an all-sources handgrip of $50.2 1000000 for the 3rd leg of the Triple Crown, well-nigh $10.3 million less, or 17% down, from the $60.5 meg play on last year’s race.

The Belmont Stakes was section of a 13-race identity card this year and finally year. Much same the marquise race, the hold for the full 24-hour interval also declined. After bettors wagered $112.7 jillion lowest twelvemonth – a Belmont Stakes Clarence Shepard Day Jr. put down when a Triple Crown was not on the contrast – this year’s identity card attracted an all-sources handle of $98.8 million, a 12.3% drop.

Like lowest year, no more Equus caballus had a chance to get a Triple Crown winner Saturday. Mo Donegal won the rush as the 5-2 post-time favorite. Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, who bypassed the Preakness, finished sixth.

Saturday’s running was the first Belmont Stakes ladder under normal conditions since the COVID-19 pandemic. It served as the number 1 leg of the Triple Crown in 2020 and was rock-bottom by a quarter-mile to 1-1/4 miles. Last year, COVID restrictions special the Belmont Mungo Park crowd together to simply 11,238.

On Saturday, 46,301 tended to(p) the races. Upwards of 90,000 fans make tended to(p) the race in recent years. However, the latterly opened UBS Arena at the Long Island cartroad absorbed much of the blank space where fans congregated inwards the past. As a result, NYRA capped attendance this year at 50,000.

Lower Handle Likely Due to Smaller Fields

After endure month’s Kentucky Derby produced record betting numbers, the subsequent legs both reported declines inwards handle. The Preakness Stakes trio weeks agone saw a 5% dip to $65.3 million, and the 14-race card at Pimlico Race Course inward Baltimore fell 8%, or nearly $9M, to $104.3 million.

Like the Belmont, the Preakness Stakes also reported a book handle in 2021.

While the deficiency of Triple Crown drama certainly played a role inwards wagering declines inward the final II legs, at that place are likely other reasons for the Belmont Stakes scorecard falling past as a great deal as it did.

Small line of business sizes may live to blame for some of the dropoff. The card featured Nina from Carolina stakes races, but those races included quartet entries inwards ane race, quintet inwards trinity others, and VI inward another.

Mo Donegal Claims Belmont Stakes

Mo Donegal came to the Belmont after a fifth-place destination inward the Kentucky Derby. However, the Sir Henry Joseph Wood Memorial winner got a much-better spark off this time around with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard.

The Todd Pletcher-trained colt went remote in the final turn to get hold of the Pb and pulling away. Mo Donegal scored a three-length win o'er Nest, a Pletcher-trained filly who overcame a cold-shoulder falter out of the gate.

Mike Repole, an entrepreneur in arrears Vitaminwater and BODYARMOR drinks and a indigen of nearby Queens, is a co-owner of the cover II horses.

It’s a 40-year dream,” Repole said. “Coming to this rail and Aqueduct, beingness a chaff from New York, this is New York’s race… This was the biggest goal of my racing life, and I just completed it and i ran 1-2.”

Rich Strike started in the back of the pack, as he did in the Derby fivesome weeks ago. However, a slower gait on Sat potential kept him from making a charge shoot down the stretch.

The Derby winner also did non detain inside as he did in Louisville. That quality led to trainer Eric John Reed second-guessing himself afterward.

“Our biggest vary was deciding to continue a minuscule away the rail in and stress to apply him a good, clear running where he could get hold of off,” John Reed said. “The unit way, his lead turned and he was trying to receive to the inside. i hazard we made a misapprehension not putting him on the fence.”