Harsh Winter Cancellations Depress Race Days, Fields, and Handle in Q1

Arctic shutdowns in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic did more than wipe out a few cards. They helped drag first-quarter U.S. wagering on races down 7.11% to $2,326,916,248, a drop of about $178.1 million from a year earlier, as race days, starts and field size all slipped. Equibase’s numbers show 697 race days, down from 715, with 5,972 races and 45,352 starts, while average field size fell to 7.59 from 7.93. Average wagering per race day also fell 4.71% to $3,338,474. The hard question for the sport now is how much of that money was merely delayed by weather and how much disappeared with the missed programs.

January set the tone. Equibase said U.S. wagering that month fell 6.09% to $753,930,913, while race days dropped 12.02% to 205, races fell 13.58% to 1,724 and starts sank 15.89% to 13,655. At Aqueduct, NYRA canceled live racing Jan. 28-30 because of arctic temperatures and extremely low wind chills in the New York metropolitan area. By Jan. 30, NYRA was asking for approval for four added live days on Feb. 11, Feb. 19, Feb. 26 and Mar. 5, while also shifting stakes such as the Withers. NYRA, the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and New York Thoroughbred Breeders were all part of the push to rework the calendar.

The cancellation map was broader than one track, but the economic center of gravity sat in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Equibase’s log showed repeated shutdowns in January and February at Aqueduct, Laurel Park, Parx Racing, Charles Town, Mahoning Valley, Turfway Park, Oaklawn Park, Sunland Park, Louisiana Downs and Sam Houston Race Park, among others. That left horseplayers with fewer full cards and more broken betting pools, while tracks and horsemen had to absorb the cost of scratched race days, reshuffled condition books and delayed purses.

March showed that the calendar had not fully recovered. Wagering still fell 12.35% year over year to $816,171,590, even though race days were nearly flat at 262 versus 263. The quarter’s damage was not just weather-driven in isolation either. BloodHorse reported that U.S. race days fell 5.2% in 2025 and races fell 4.7% to 29,401, the first time the industry had dropped below 30,000 races since the mid-1950s. Against that backdrop, the winter cancellations did not just interrupt the first quarter. They exposed how fragile the sport’s revenue base becomes when the cards cannot be run.