Breeders' Cup Friday handle sets record, surpassing 2021 by over 16 percent
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Total handle for the five Breeders’ Cup races held on Friday at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington set a record, according to charts of the races, surpassing the record total for last year despite the races being held nearly three hours earlier than last year.
Total handle for the five BC races was $49.27 million, up 16.4 percent over the record $42.31 bet on the five Friday races last year. All five Friday races are restricted to juveniles.
Handle for the Juvenile Fillies, the second Breeders’ Cup race, was up 25.3 percent, or nearly $1.5 million. This year’s Juvenile Fillies had 13 horses, compared to only six last year, when Echo Zulu scared off competitors.
Handle on the final BC race of the day, the Juvenile Turf, was up 26.8 percent, or slightly more than $4 million. Both races had 12 horses, but last year, millions of dollars had to be refunded because the favorite in the race, Modern Games, was removed form the pari-mutuel pools after he was mistakenly scratched from the race.
Handle totals for West Coast sites are generally higher than East Coast sites because of the three-hour difference in time zones. Last year, the first Friday Breeders’ Cup race at Del Mar went off at 5:50 p.m. Eastern, whereas the first BC race at Keeneland had a post of 3:00 p.m., or noon on the West Coast.
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