Meeting ends on upswing

Sunland Park closed its 2006-2007 meet Sunday with solid gains in handle, according to track figures. The El Paso, Texas, track had an increase of 8.4 percent in total ontrack and daily average ontrack handle on its own races over last years meet. Total handle on Sunlands races for the recent 79-day meet, which ran from Dec. 15, 2006, through April 29, came to $8.7 million, compared with $8 million for the 2005-2006 meet of the same length. That amounts to an average daily handle increase to $110,394, up from $101,852.

All-sources handle on Sunland racing was up 3.4 percent $60.8 million this year compared to $58.8 million for the 2005-2006 stand resulting in an average daily handle of $769,912 this meet, compared with $744,571 the previous meet.

Ken Tohill repeated as leading jockey with 110 wins. Alfredo Juarez Jr. (58 wins), J. Martin Bourdieu (37), Glen Murphy (33), Carlos Madeira (32) and Casey Lambert (28) were next.

Steve Asmussen, second in last years trainers standings, defeated last years leading trainer, Henry Dominguez, by a 47-42 margin. Ramon Gonzalez (41 winners), Jose Gonzalez (31), and Joel Marr (29) rounded out the top five.

Racing returns to Sunland on Dec. 14.