Business strong at spring meeting

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita ended its 39-day spring-summer meeting Sunday with gains in ontrack attendance and all-sources handle, and a decline in ontrack handle, according to a track official.

Average ontrack handle fell 1 percent, but all-sources handle, including from simulcasting and account wagering, rose 2.3 percent over the corresponding meeting in 2014, according to marketing director Nate Newby.

Ontrack attendance rose 12 percent over last year, the first year Santa Anita ran a spring-summer meeting following the closing of Hollywood Park at the end of 2013.

The track released limited financial data following Sunday’s program, which marked the end of six months of continuous racing at Santa Anita. The track conducted a winter-spring meeting from Dec. 26 to April 19. Combining both meetings, the track had a 7 percent increase in ontrack attendance and a 3 percent increase in all-sources handle, Newby said.

Newby said the Triple Crown sweep by American Pharoah gave a boost to the final weeks of the spring-summer meeting.

“The great thing is how things finished with American Pharoah,” he said. “We found we had a lot of momentum.”

A large crowd came out to watch American Pharoah parade between races Saturday.

The track announced an ontrack crowd of 21,528 compared to 12,396 on the corresponding day in 2014. Saturday’s ontrack handle was $2,328,200, down from $2,621,743 last year. All-sources handle was strong, reaching $16,461,998 compared to $14,891,405 in 2014. Both cards had 10 races.

The decline in ontrack handle Saturday is an indication the program drew many casual fans largely unfamiliar with betting. Newby said the makeup of the crowd was reflected in phone calls the track received in preceding days.

“We were getting a lot of phone calls, with people asking, ‘If I pay $5, can I see American Pharoah? Do I get to touch him,’ ” Newby said.

Newby said track officials must continue to make customers aware that Santa Anita has a spring-summer meeting and does not cease live racing in mid-April, as was the case when Hollywood Park operated.

“We wanted to build awareness that the season runs until the end of June,” he said. “I think it’s a three- to five-year plan for people to know that we’re open that long. In the last two months, we had good momentum.”

For the meeting, average field size rose slightly, from 7.71 runners per race in 2014 to 7.84 runners per race this year. The track ran 341 races at the spring-summer meeting, five more than last year.

Jockey Rafael Bejarano led all riders with 47 wins, 12 more than runner-up Tyler Baze. Bejarano was the leading rider at the winter-spring meeting this year.

Peter Miller and Doug O’Neill tied for first in the trainer standings with 22 wins, two more than Phil D’Amato.

Pete and Kosta Hronis led all owners with $869,946 in earnings. They won Saturday’s $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita with Hard Aces.

Spanish Queen, winner of the Grade 2 Honeymoon Stakes on May 3 and the Grade 1 American Oaks on May 30, was named Horse of the Meet.