Kentucky Oaks handle down compared to record total in 2019
Total betting on this year’s Kentucky Oaks on Friday at Churchill Downs in Louisville was down 9.5 percent compared to the record total bet on the race in 2019, the last time the race was held in its traditional spot on the calendar, according to charts of the races.
Total handle on the race this year was $17.46 million, compared to the 2019 record of $19.29 million. This year’s race had 13 horses, while the 2019 edition of the Oaks had a full field of 14 horses.
For the 13-race card on Friday, total handle was $54.3 million, according to Churchill. Compared to 2019’s full-card handle of $60.2 million, a record, handle on this year’s card was down 9.8 percent.
Handle numbers for this year’s Oaks were impacted by a limitation on the crowd at the race due to coronavirus protocols. Churchill said that attendance for Oaks day was 41,472 this year. Typically, the Oaks card draws approximately 100,000 attendees. Churchill did not allow any walk-up admission on Friday, which turned out to be an ideal spring day.
Last year’s Kentucky Oaks was held on Sept. 4, a Friday, because of a decision by Churchill to delay the Oaks and Derby cards due to the uncertainty surrounding the early days of the pandemic. Handle last year on the full card was roughly half of a typical Oaks card, as was the case with the Derby and the two other races of the Triple Crown.
Handle in the straight pools and the exacta, trifecta, superfecta, and daily double pools for this year’s Oaks were all down by double digits when compared to 2019, according to the charts. In 2019, the year the race set a wagering record, handle in all of those pools, other than the daily double, were up by double digits. Conversely, handle this year for the pick 3, pick 4, pick 5, and pick 6 were all up significantly.
