While the first three
weekends of The Meadowlands meet were impossible to compare to the prior year
due to The Breeders Crown being raced at the East Rutherford oval in 2014, this
past weekend was the first true indicator in terms of wagering handle.
The early returns are very encouraging.
The Friday, December 4th
program handled $2,758,743 compared to $2,273,465 in 2014, an increase of
$485,278 or 21-percent. On Saturday, December 5th, total handle was
$2,722,745, compared to $2,307,791 in 2014, an increase of $414,954, or
18-percent. Combined the weekend saw $900,232 in additional handle
compared to 2014, or 19.6 percent. In addition, on-track handle realized an
increase of over 10-percent as well.
"The first three
weekends of the meet were hard to gauge," said Chairman Jeff Gural.
We were comparing to handle figures that centered around the Breeders Crown and
our TVG Championships were contested on a different weekend as well. This
was our first direct comparison of the meet and it is certainly encouraging."
Full fields remain the
key to The Meadowlands success. "We have the bigger track with 10
horses across. That is where we have an edge and we have to capitalize on
that. We had 254 betting interests in 26 races, that's nearly 9.8 horses
per race, which is where we need to be."
Gural added that
coordinating post times has become a focal point of the meet as well.
"We hired a consultant who coordinates with other racetracks, thoroughbred
and standardbred alike so that our races are not going off at the same time as
races that could negatively impact our handle. There are so many tracks
out there to keep track of and to have one person being able to focus on just
that task throughout the night is a big help to us. We have also developed
a schedule with Woodbine where our races are essentially ten minutes apart
from one another. We haven't had a single race this meet go off close to
Woodbine."
There have been a few
other tweaks that seem to be helping as well. "The earlier post
certainly hasn't hampered us thus far and it has helped on the back end of the
card as we aren't ending too late. In addition, by moving post up, we
were able to put a race between our early and late pick four and this weekend
shows us that move is working as well. On this weekend in 2014, our early
pick four averaged $42,000 and our late pick four came in at $63,000.
This year the early pick four averaged $49,000 and the late pick four $72,000,
so that move seems to have helped as well."
The on-track attendance
is also an area in which Gural's team is making a big push. "We are
spending serious money in marketing and promotions to bring people to the
facility for racing. We have a presence in midtown Manhattan in the form
of a large digital billboard and we have other strategically located billboards
throughout the New York City area. We have pushed forward with direct
marketing and retaining our current players as well as building our player
rewards club, which has grown every month this year. Our on-track promotions
are second to none and we have a giveaway every race night. This past
Saturday there was a line out the door to get a long sleeve t-shirt. We
will continue to push forward in enhancing the on-track experience. We
also had a Christmas Party for our VIP guests this past Saturday and all of our
skyboxes were filled with groups holding their Christmas parties at The
Meadowlands. The facility continues to prove to be marketable to groups
for all occasions."
Another interesting
observation is that Friday did as well as Saturday. "We have less
competition in terms of the overall product available to bettors on Friday and
that seems to help us there as well. If we can bring Friday to the same
level as Saturday and have some weekends where both nights handle $3 Million,
that would be very encouraging."
Gural is looking forward
to the next few months. "Hopefully horsemen keep entering their
horses like they did this weekend and we can keep putting full and competitive
fields on the track for our customers. That is the most important factor
for us without question."
Racing returns on
Friday, December 11th, with post time at 7:00 P.M.
