Politics on the Hudson

Attendance and the handle—the amount bet—improved during the second half of the season at Saratoga Race Course, NYRA said today.

The first three weeks were hit with regular rains, limiting attendance and action at the betting booths. But declines in attendance and on-track handle were cut in half in the final three weeks of the meet as the weather improved.

Still, attendance was down 9.0 percent over 2007 for the full meet, and on-track handle was down 6.9 percent over 2007, NYRA said.

Attendance for the 2008 meet was 872,627, down from 958,574 in 2007, with daily averages of 24,240 compared to 26,627 in 2007, NYRA said.