Bay Meadows handle dips

Although ontrack handle on live races at the 31-day Bay Meadows Holiday meeting from Dec. 26, 2005, through Feb. 5 rose compared with the 31 corresponding days of northern California racing in 2004-2005, it was offset by a decline in offtrack betting, resulting in drop of 4.9 percent in average overall daily wagering on live Bay Meadows races.

Ontrack wagering on live Bay Meadows races, aided by a 12 percent gain in attendance to 2,551 daily, rose 3.4 percent to a daily average of $264,269. Offtrack wagering, though, dropped 5.5 percent to $3,345,508 daily, contributing to the 4.9 percent decline in all-sources handle on Bay Meadows to a daily average of $3,609,777.

The handle from account wagering companies TVG, YouBet, and XpressBet increased 31.3 percent.

On the track, a victory in the final race of the meet gained jockey Martin Garcia a tie with Russell Baze for most riding victories with 47. Garcia's total came from 153 mounts to Baze's 168.

Jerry Hollendorfer won his 32nd consecutive Bay Meadows training title, saddling 34 winners.