The first three Saturdays of 2020 were solid from a business perspective at The Meadowlands, as total wagering of $7.7 million averaged out to $2.569 million per card, resulting in an average per race of $183,523.
Turn the page to 2021, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s continued miserable grip on the globe, business at the industry’s handle leader has been booming.
Good as the numbers were during the first three Saturdays of a year ago, thus far this year has seen tremendous gains over the corresponding race cards.
Betting reached $4,562,477 on Jan. 2, which represented the third-highest single-card handle–beaten only by Meadowlands Pace Night and Hambletonian Day–over the last 13 months.
The United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), the group of the industry’s communicators who are the primary voters on Hall of Fame and year-end honours, is announcing a special Dan Patch Virtual Awards Show, to be held on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, from 5 to 6 p.m.
The Dan Patch Awards Show can be watched live on USHWA’s Facebook page, as well as through the Meadowlands simulcast signal, on the track’s website and through the RTN broadcast network. The next day, it will be archived and available on the USTA’s YouTube channel.
The Dan Patch Awards would normally be given at the writers’ annual Dan Patch Banquet in association with their national meetings, but there will be no banquet this year due to health/travel concerns and the USHWA meetings will be held electronically.