Handle at California tracks up 12 percent in April

ARCADIA, Calif. – Helped by two additional days of Thoroughbred racing, handle at all California racetracks grew by 12 percent in April, pushing year-to-date figures into positive territory for the first time since the end of February, according to data presented at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting by executive director Rick Baedeker.

Handle at all racing venues reached $242,173,506 in April, a gain of 12 percent over April 2014. Handle at Thoroughbred meetings at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita rose 12 percent to $216,211,493. Handle at the evening Quarter Horse and lower-level Thoroughbred meeting at Los Alamitos and the harness-racing meeting at Cal-Expo was $25,962,013, a gain of 10 percent.

There were 16 days of Thoroughbred racing at both Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita, an increase from 14 days each in April 2014. The number of evening cards at Cal-Expo and Los Alamitos was unchanged at 11 each.

For the year, handle at all venues was $994,404,409, a gain of 2 percent. In the first quarter of the year, handle fell 1 percent compared with the similar period of 2014.

Handle at Thoroughbred meetings is up slightly less than 1 percent for the year to $887,079,513. The biggest growth for handle in the first four months of the year has been account-wagering sources, which have shown an increase of 4 percent to $186,697,456.