Moved to Sunday, with two fewer races, Santa Anita Handicap card handle down 20 percent

Total handle on the Sunday card at Santa Anita that featured the Santa Anita Handicap and several supporting stakes was 20.8 percent lower than the Santa Anita Handicap card last year, when it was held on a Saturday and had two additional races, according to an analysis of charts of the races.

Total handle for the 10 races on Sunday was $14,700,699, according to the charts, compared to $18,551,933 on the Saturday Big Cap card. The Sunday card had 10 races and drew 78 horses, for an average of 7.8 horses per race. The Saturday card last year had 12 races that drew 99 horses, for an average of 8.25 horses per race.

The Big Cap card was shifted to Sunday after weather forecasts late in the week began calling for heavy rains on Saturday. Santa Anita responded by shifting the Saturday card to Sunday and moving the Sunday card to Monday.

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Total handle for the nine-race Monday card was $5,406,814, compared to $8,299,357 in handle for the nine-race Sunday card last year, according to the charts. The average field size for the Monday card was 6.2 horses, compared to 7.1 horses for the Sunday card last year.

In total, handle for the Big Cap “weekend” at Santa Anita this year was $20.1 million, compared to $26.9 million in 2023 and $26.1 million in 2022.

The rainout at Santa Anita did not result in handle migrating to other tracks on Saturday. Total handle on all U.S. races on Saturday was $73.4 million, down 24.7 percent from handle on the same Saturday last year of $97.5 million. Total handle on the same Saturday in 2022 was $90.1 million.

While the lack of a Santa Anita card had a major impact on last Saturday’s handle, betting was also down at Gulfstream Park for its Fountain of Youth Stakes card, largely due to a slew of high-profile scratches in its major races. The Fountain of Youth lost four entrants in the days leading up to the race, including three on the day of the race, and several other races had high-profile departures.

Handle on the 14-race full card from Gulfstream on Saturday dropped $4.7 million compared to last year, to $31.8 million, after setting a record last year at $36.5 million, according to the charts.

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With the Big Cap card leading the simulcast menu on Sunday, handle that day jumped 6.9 percent compared to the same Sunday last year, to $58.7 million.

Handle on Monday nearly doubled compared to last year, though the overall number was small. With Santa Anita’s total of $5.4 million included in the Monday figures on a day when only three or four tracks typically run, total handle was $11.4 million, compared to $6.4 million last year.

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