All-sources handle, attendance up on opening day

ARCADIA, Calif. – All-sources handle exceeded $21.49 million on Thursday at Santa Anita, part of a bumper set of statistics on opening day of the winter-spring meeting.

The all-sources handle was the highest on opening day since 2022 when handle reached $26.3 million and the third-highest handle ever on opening day. The 2020 opening day had a handle of slightly more than $23 million.

The handle jumped 17.4 percent over the 2023 figure of $18.3 million. Ontrack handle on Thursday was $2,657,871, a gain of 3 percent over 2023.

Thursday’s ontrack crowd was announced at 41,562, a gain of 11.8 percent over the 2023 audience of 37,143. Thursday’s figure was the highest on the opening day of the meeting since 46,514 turned out in 2016.

The higher business figures are a boost for Santa Anita, which like other California tracks, have cut purses in recent years because of a decline in handle. The track cut 11 stakes from the schedule for the current meeting, and reduced purses of some stakes as well as overnight purses.

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