For Opinion, click here for View from the Racetrack Grandstand

Monday, August 20, 2012

M1 - Meadowlands Ends Meet On High Note; Live Attendance and Wagering Up in 2012

Meadowlands Racetrack capped its 2012 harness meet with a spectacular display of stakes races and events that drew increases in attendance and handle over the previous year.

Nighttime attendance on Friday, August 17 was 4,014 vs. 3,941 for the 2011 finale, which was raced on a Saturday.  Live wagering was $424,227 vs. $396,719 in 2011, while the Meadowlands total handle was $2,479,596 for the 12-race card vs. $2,171,319 wagered on 10 races in 2011.

The summer finale marked a positive end to the tracks’ first season under private management by Jeff Gural’s New Meadowlands Racetrack LLC.  Overall, live attendance for the meet was up 6.6 percent, while on-track wagering was up 8 percent.  Export handle (the amount wagered on the Meadowlands by other outlets) was up 1.7 percent.  Total Meadowlands handle (all sources) was up 2.5 percent.

“We were pleased with the live meet,” said General Manager Michael Newlin.  “Our numbers show that we got some new people in the door and they wagered on our live product.”

Yannick Gingras clinched his first career driving title on the final night of racing with 125 victories for the meet.  Gingras, who also won his first Meadowlands Pace with A Rocknroll Dance, bested earnings leader Tim Tetrick ($3.4 million) by two wins.  Ron Burke ran away with his first Meadowlands training title, harnessing 64 winners over the season.  Newly inducted Hall of Famer Jimmy Takter led all trainers in earnings with $1.9 million in purses won.

Top 10 Drivers
Name  Starts W  P  S  Earnings
Gingras, Yannick 662 125 96 72 $2,657,030
Tetrick, Tim 645 123 80 92 $3,457,933
Miller, David 727 108 96 89 $2,751,037
Sears, Brian 545 102 90 64 $2,404,475
Miller, Andy 780 98 95 74 $2,140,553
Pierce, Ronald 659 79 90 98 $1,973,404
Callahan, Corey 333 35 35 42 $799,423
Dube, Daniel 609 33 44 63 $740,378
Campbell, John 492 32 57 45 $867,318
Lachance, Mike 264 32 27 31 $715,274
 

Top 10 Trainers
Name Starts W  P  S  Earnings
Burke, Ronald 402 64 54 45 $1,454,506
Takter, Jimmy 176 39 34 24 $1,967,968
Allard, Rene 208 38 29 21 $503,268
Miller, Julie 151 38 26 16 $591,323
Ford, Mark 269 27 23 37 $508,716
Miller, Erv 144 27 21 18 $396,058
Alagna, Tony 166 26 25 20 $973,034
Harder, Mark 133 22 20 10 $843,729
Fraley, PJ 156 19 19 24 $466,645
Coleman, Casie 62 18 11 9 $365,156