The $3 million mark in a card’s handle, or amount wagered, is a solid barometer for how well the Meadowlands Racetrack is faring.
In all of 2020, that mark was reached only 11 times — and only once in January.
Yet in the midst of COVID in 2021, when many gamblers were staying home but logging on to bet on horse races, there were four consecutive cards in the opening month to reach that figure. A Jan. 2 “holiday card” produced a whopping $4.6 million in wagers, a mark topped in the previous 12 months by only the Hambletonian and Meadowlands Pace days.
By mid-March, 11 straight Saturday cards had induced at least $3 million in bets.
In fact, at year’s end, the 92 race cards produced $276 million in handle — meaning that the target $3 million handle became the “typical night at the Big M.” No other nighttime racetrack in North America, standardbred or thoroughbred, produced such an average handle. As a result, total purses for stakes races at the East Rutherford track are being boosted to an estimated $20 million.
The winning streak has not continued in 2022, however, for various reasons.
Changes to start the year
Already in the works before the calendar year started were a couple of new wrinkles.
For instance, all 2-year-old stakes at the Meadowlands have new language in the conditions that excludes treatment with Lasix or any adjunct bleeder medication for the race. Meanwhile, all Meadowlands-administered stakes requiring eliminations will employ a new formula to draw for the final.
“This method rewards a higher position in the official order of finish in the elimination, with an increased percentage of a favorable post position draw for the final,” a track official said. “The hope is to entice more competitive racing in the elimination races.”
This formula will not be used for NJSS- or Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown-administered stakes, however.
Drivers must apply for approval to race
Handle and racing revenue were down nearly 20% in the first three weekends compared to the same period in 2021, and the Jan. 28-29 cards were canceled due to inclement winter weather conditions.
On the most recent Friday and Saturday, the handle figures were $2.4 million and $2.7 million, respectively. And on Jan. 28, Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural released notice of the track’s intention to require drivers to apply for approval to race during the four-month 2022 Championship Meet that begins May 6.
“It is clear, that as the quality of The Meadowlands driver colony becomes diluted over the winter months, business on our racing declines,” Gural said in a statement. “Meadowlands horseplayers expect our product to be of the highest quality, as do the connections of the horses when they come here to race. In recognition of those issues, the approval process will require participation on all Meadowlands race cards beginning on Friday, March 4. Exceptions may be considered for competing stakes and other valid reasons.
“The drivers that will be expected to return to and race consistently starting on that date are those who made 200 starts and earned over $1 million at The Meadowlands during the 2021 stakes season from May 1 through Nov. 20. The function of driver approval is designed to improve and strengthen The Meadowlands’ racing product. In no way should this be considered punitive; our sole goal is to improve the product. We hope everyone supports that concept.
“Approval will be based on attendance, adherence to the rules of racing and the spirit of competition from the start date of March 4. Warnings will be issued to those that have been approved that are not in compliance. Approval may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn if the practice that draws the warning continues.”
More competitive efforts mandated
Gural added that laid-back efforts made by some drivers, to the consternation of discerning bettors who risked money on their horses, will not be tolerated.
The issue of “courtesy tucks” — the practice of allowing a trailing horse to pull ahead, which produced significant debate among horsemen and gamblers last spring — continues to concern Gural, who said he wants the strategy to stop.
“No courtesy tucks; no stalling the outside flow for more than a few beats while waiting to get another driver to commit to the outside; and no imaginary passing lane created when the tiring leader fails to maintain a straight course off the final turn into the stretch, in an obvious courtesy move to free a horse that may be pinned in behind them,” Gural said. “These practices are a violation of the rules of racing and constitute altering the outcome of a race, and they will not be accepted.
“The Meadowlands succeeds or fails on the back of its racing product and the horse players that support it with their wagering dollars and these are the issues that they have consistently brought up,” Gural added. “We are addressing them in the hope that with our best product — an exciting, more contested product — we can attract new fans and improve our share of the intense competition for the wagering dollar.
“If harness racing is to have a future, we must change, we must get current, and we have to generate new interest. We are missing out on the next generation that, now that sports betting is legal, are being barraged with incentives to draw them in that direction. We have to draw their interest and then we have to have a product that holds it. And we need to do that now.”
Photo courtesy of Meadowlands Racetrack
