Del Mar handle continues to rise

DEL MAR, Calif. – With five weeks in the books, Del Mar continues to show significant gains in handle, and its ontrack attendance figures received a boost this past week owing to a Saturday-night concert by Weezer that attracted a large, late-arriving crowd.

Through the first 25 days of the meet, Del Mar’s overall handle is averaging $12,786,238 per day, a 9.4 percent increase from an average of $11,688,724 through the same period a year ago.

The ontrack handle is up 7.9 percent to an average of $2,495,931 per day.

Field size continues to be a driving force behind the handle increases. Del Mar is holding steady at an average of 8.6 runners per race, compared to 8.4 a year ago.

Ontrack attendance had been down slightly through the first four weeks of the meet, but was greatly aided Saturday by a final figure of 39,700 fans, thousands of whom came streaming in late in the day to attend the post-race concert. As a result, daily average attendance now stands at 18,330 per day, up fractionally from last year’s average of 18,312 for the first five weeks.