The 2025 Saratoga racing season crossed the wire on Monday.
Total attendance was slightly up, but the overall wagering handle slightly was down from 2024.
In total, the 40-day meet still drew more than 1 million in paid attendance and saw just under $800 million wagered.
Here are some of the pertinent numbers for the regular summer meet of 2025:
ATTENDANCE: The New York Racing Association announced a total paid attendance of 1,061,787 fans for the 40 days of racing, an increase of a little more than 10,000 fans from the 2024 meet.
However, average attendance was slightly down, as last year’s meet was cut to 39 racing days because of the cancellation of a card due to the Capital Region being beset by remnants of Tropical Storm Debby.
Average paid attendance in 2024 was 26,951, with this year’s average dropping slightly to 26,544 — a 1.51% decrease.
Attendance for this year’s meet peaked for Travers Day on August 23rd, when 48,255 race fans turned out.
Eight out of the 40 racing days during the meet saw an attendance of at least 30,000, and there were only four days with a paid attendance of fewer than 20,000.
HANDLE: The 40-day meet fell just shy of generating $800 million in all-sources handle, with the final total clocking in at $791,129,048, down from 2024’s total of $803,806,964.
The overall handle decreased by 1.57% year-over-year, while the average daily handle decreased 4.04% from $20,610,435 to $19,778,226.
Travers Day generated the largest all-sources handle of this year’s meet, bringing in $54,309,929 in wagering, a 13.83% drop from 2024’s record-high $63,023,405.
TRAINERS: The training title came down to the last day.
Todd Pletcher made a huge comeback throughout the meet’s final week and passed Chad Brown for the lead with two races left in the season, but Brown’s SAY YES TO DREAMS won the final race of the season, leaving the two trainers tied for the title with 32 wins each.
It was the record 15th Saratoga training title for Pletcher, while Mechanicville native Brown topped the standings for the eighth time, including the fifth consecutive year.
Brown did run away with the title of top money-earning trainer, as his $4,509,878 was more than $1 million better than 2nd-place Pletcher.
Linda Rice saddled 24 winners to finish 3rd, while Miguel Clement was 4th with 18 wins in his first meet since taking over for his father, Christophe Clement, who died in May.
Bill Mott rounded out the top five with 16 wins, including the Jim Dandy and Travers with SOVEREIGNTY.
JOCKEYS: Despite his nasty fall in the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sunday, (that forced him off his mounts for the remainder of that card and closing), Irad Ortiz Jr. secured his seventh Saratoga riding title — taking the top spot for the fourth year in a row — after racking up 59 wins.
Jose Ortiz, Irad’s brother, returned from Kentucky Downs for Monday’s card and rode three winners to finish a close 2nd with 55.
Flavien Prat finished 3rd with 42 victories, but scored several major stakes victories to edge the Ortiz brothers as the top-earning jockey with total purses of $5,670,370.
Rounding out the top five were Ricardo Santana Jr. with 38 victories and Kendrick Carmouche with 29.
