Meadows Monday Memo – 2023 Wrap-Up

INCREASED HANDLE NUMBERS FOR 2023

Hollywood Casino at The Meadows thanks everyone for their support of our harness racing product this year.

Overall handle on live races increased more than 20% from 2022 to 2023.  On-track handle increased by more than 6% while money wagered on Meadows races from outside sources jumped by 26%.  Several factors contributed to the increase.

According to Director of Racing Scott Lishia, “It seemed as though the betting public liked the changes we made this year.  We updated our wagering menu, eliminating jackpot pools and adding full net pool carryovers for some wagers, and that really made a difference.  Our partnership with NAHUpicks.com and In The Money Media brought us some great exposure on social media, and our larger field sizes certainly didn’t hurt.”

For the year, The Meadows had an average field size of 8.15.  The Meadows hopes to start 2024 as strong as it ended 2023, as wagering topped $1 million on Thursday, December 28, one of the largest handles of the year.

PALONE REIGNS AGAIN, STRONG NUMBERS FOR WRENN

Driver Dave Palone, who has captured every Meadows driving title for more than 3 decades, once again was the top dash-winning driver in 2023, with 411 wins.  Ronnie Wrenn also had a strong season, with 263 wins and a track-best Universal Driver Rating of .415.

Aaron Merriman was third in wins with 220, while Jeremy Indof and Hunter Myers finished in a tie for fourth with 167 wins each. Also of note was Mike Wilder finishing with 150 wins while driving only part of the year, with a 16.7 win percentage.  Anthony MacDonald had his best-ever Meadows season, with 61 wins and an 18.8 win percentage, and a UDRS of .325.

BURKE, SIMPSON TOP TRAINER LISTS

Ron Burke captured another training title at The Meadows in 2023, with 264 wins and a .423 Universal Trainer Rating.  Burke started a Meadows-high 928 horses and brought in just under $3 million in purses.  He was followed in most training categories by veteran trainer Dirk Simpson, who put together his best season since arriving at The Meadows. Simpson had 110 wins among 829 starts, and $1.1 million in earnings.

Scott Betts was third in victories with 96, while Brandon Presto was fourth with 94.  Betts won just over 20% of his local starts.  Presto’s career-best season saw him bring in more than $1 million in purses nationwide, more than $800,000 at The Meadows.  Tim Twaddle also had a career-best season in 2023, topping the $1 million mark in purses at The Meadows with 79 wins, while veteran Randy Bendis put together another solid season with 62 wins and a .308 UTRS rating.

MIDDLE POSTS WERE THE PLACE TO BE

As has been the case in most recent season, post position 5 was the place to be in 2023.  A total of 388 winners left from post 5, a 17.6% winning percentage.  Post 4 was next, at 14.1%, while posts 1 and 3 tied for third at 13.3%.

LARGER FIELDS, MORE RACES

As noted above, The Meadows averaged 8.15 starters per race, with 2,170 races contested in 2023 over 170 race days.  The total number of races increased over 2022 by approximately 50 races.

If you would like additional information at any point, please reach out to track announcer Jeff Zidek (jeff.zidek@pennentertainment.com).

by Jeff Zidek, for The Meadows