[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

What am I missing? My understanding was that NYRA was projecting a 5% decline in handle for the meet. To its credit, it beat that figure. However, that marginal "increase" is not the reason given for the purse increase at Belmont; it's that purses actually paid out at Saratoga were $3 million below the projected purse levels (assuming the accuracy of the reason stated in the article). The only explanations that I can see are either that the races that filled were of a cheaper variety (when you run a $25K maiden claimer versus a MSW race, you "save" the purse account about $25K) or NYRA ran substantially less races than they anticipated (and that wouldn't seem to be a likely explanation, with 395 races contested over the 40 day meet).

A few years ago at Saratoga, maidens were running for in excess of $60K. The primary reason was that, as the winter meet got a little cheaper, there was money in the purse account that had not been expended, and NYRA used that money to great benefit at Saratoga. This feels like a similar situation.

I was assuming you understood things better than this. Sorry.