Equibase, North American racing’s official database, on Wednesday released its 2021 statistics for the industry’s economic indicators, including field size, wagering, and other data, along with 2019 and 2020 comparables. The 2019 data is included as a pre-COVID-19 comparison.

Total handle on U.S. races in 2021 topped $12 billion, reaching the highest figure since 2009. That number represents an 11.86 percent increase over wagering in 2020 ($10.9B), and an increase of 10.74 percent compared to 2019 ($11B).

By comparison, the 2009 wagering total of $12.3 billion came from a total of 49,368 races. The 2021 wagering totals were from 33,567 races, a 32 percent decline in the number of races.