California Chrome lures big crowd to Santa Anita

ARCADIA, Calif. - The presence of California Chrome in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita led to a surge in ontrack attendance, but a less significant increase in handle figures.

California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, won the San Pasqual in his first start since last March.

Saturday’s program drew 12,528 compared with 5,462 on the corresponding day in 2015 that was plagued by showery conditions. Saturday’s ontrack handle was $1,716,601, a gain of 20 percent over the 2015 figure of $1,421,599.

All-sources handle grew 12 percent, from $11,713,143 in 2015 to $13,098,775 this year.

The ontrack attendance was the second-highest in the first 10 days of the meeting. The opening day on Dec. 26 drew an ontrack crowd of 44,873.