Santa Anita's handle increased for the first six weeks of its winter-spring meeting, track officials said on Wednesday. Through Sunday, after 20 days of racing, all-sources handle exceeded $185.9 million, an increase of 7 percent over the corresponding meeting in 2023-2024, track officials said. Last winter, racing was canceled on the first Sunday of February because of rain. This year, the meeting has started largely with dry conditions. California tracks are discouraged from racing in severe weather following inclement-weather policies enacted by the California Horse Racing Board in late 2020. Last month, Santa Anita canceled racing on Jan. 10 because of air-quality issues caused by the devastating wildfires that struck the Los Angeles area, including neighborhoods northwest of the track in Altadena, Calif. :: Playing Santa Anita? Get the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports available now. The Jan. 11-12 programs were canceled because of worsening conditions in the area. Some neighborhoods near the track were ordered evacuated because of the fires during that week, and two make-up days were later added to the schedule on Jan. 16 and 23. In January, the track announced that business figures from the holiday period were stronger than the start of the 2023-2024 meeting. After the fires, business slowed noticeably, but officials said last weekend that figures were stronger. At the current meeting, all-sources handle has ranged from more than $21.4 million on Dec. 26, annually one of the strongest days of the meeting, to more than  $4.39 million on Jan. 23, a Thursday that was a late addition to the season. The winter-spring meeting runs through April 6, followed by a spring meeting from April 18 to June 15. “We started off strong during the opening two weeks and then, of course, the fires hit and business was slow as we returned to racing,” track general manager Nate Newby said in an email Wednesday. “This last weekend was solid. Hopefully we can get the momentum back going again.” Through Sunday, fields averaged 7.79 runners in 194 races, compared to an average of 6.92 runners in 179 races during the corresponding period a year ago. This year, Santa Anita has added races for horses that previously raced in Northern California. There is no racing in that part of the state this winter after a scheduled winter-spring meeting at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton was cancelled following poor business figures at a fall meeting at that venue. Instead, Santa Anita began offering races for those runners. There is no racing scheduled in Northern California so far this year. The California Authority of Racing Fairs, which operates four race meetings in that part of the state, announced in the last week of January that it would not pursue racing dates later this year. On Jan. 30, officials announced that Pleasanton would close as a training center on March 25. The decision will lead some trainers in that part of the state to send runners to Emerald Downs in Washington state, while others have already relocated to Southern California. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.