Breeders' Cup Friday handle up 2.9 percent

Betting on the four Breeders’ Cup races held Friday at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., was up 2.9 percent over betting on the same four races held at Santa Anita Park on the Friday Breeders’ Cup card last year, according to charts of the races.

Total betting on the races was $29.01 million, for an average of $7.25 million. The four races this year had 53 total runners, compared with 47 last year. Field size can have significant effects on handle, and three of this year’s Breeders’ Cup races had full fields of 14 horses, with the other, the Dirt Mile – won by 1-2 favorite Liam’s Map – fielding 11 horses. Last year, only one Friday race had a full field of 14.

The four races held both this year and last year on the Friday card were, in order, the Juvenile Turf, Dirt Mile, Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Distaff. The Distaff attracted $11.3 million in bets when including the pick six, which this year ended with the race held after the Distaff, the final race on the card. Last year, the pick six ended on the Distaff.

Wagering on this year’s pick six was $773,113, down 28 percent from last year and just barely handling enough to make good on a $750,000 guarantee. The minimum bet for the pick six was reduced this year to $1 from $2.

Handle on a pick four including all four Breeders’ Cup races was $2.63 million, illustrating the continuing popularity of the pick four on big race days. The pool was the largest of the day’s card. The total was down slightly from last year’s all-Breeders’ Cup pick four, where handle was $2.67 million.

Takeout rates at Keeneland are some of the lowest in the country at 16 percent for win, place, and show and 19 percent for all other bets. Still, that did not translate into sizeable gains in betting, especially when considering field sizes for the four races this year.

Total betting for the 10-race card at Keeneland was $44.95 million, according to the Breeders’ Cup, a 1.9 percent drop from betting on the 10-race Friday card at Santa Anita last year. Ontrack betting at Keeneland, however, was up 8 percent over last year, at $7.55 million compared with $6.97 million.

The Breeders’ Cup announced attendance of 44,947, a record for a Friday Breeders’ Cup card. However, that figure includes approximately 10,000 people in a tailgate area on the track’s property. Attendees in the tailgate area were unable to enter the grandstand. The previous Friday record was set at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., in 2010, when attendance was 41,614, according to Breeders’ Cup figures.