Hollywood Park: All-sources handle up 9 percent

Led by significant growth in account wagering, the Hollywood Park autumn meeting has shown an increase in all-sources handle of 9 percent through Sunday, track president Jack Liebau said.

Sunday marked the end of the fourth week of the six-week season, which runs through Dec. 16. Liebau said that the 9 percent figure was reached by comparing similar racing days this year to the 2011 fall meeting.

Through Sunday, handle from account-wagering sources has increased 36 percent from 2011, while out-of-state sources and the Southern California networks of satellite locations, have been shown increases of 4 percent. Liebau said that ontrack business is the same as 2011.

“We’re frankly doing better than I thought,” Liebau said. “We’re even ontrack. We’re way up with” account wagering.

A sequence of recent pick-six carryovers, including one on Thanksgiving Day of $560,134 and smaller carryovers of $105,448 on Nov. 29 and $110,904 last Sunday, have boosted interest in that bet and resulted in higher handle.

Through Sunday, field size has remained steady, with 8.11 starters per race compared to 8.09 starters per race during the same period of 2011. The entire 2011 fall meeting had an average of 7.89 starters per race.

The weather forecast is more promising this weekend than last week, when rain led to the cancellation of turf racing from Friday through Sunday.