Software glitch hurts handle on Pacific Classic card

DEL MAR, Calif. – Attendance and handle figures fell on Saturday’s 11-race Pacific Classic program at Del Mar from the corresponding day in 2014, with a decline in handle attributed to software problems that knocked two leading account wagering providers out of action in the last half of the program.

The ontrack crowd reached 20,424, the lowest in the 25-year history of the race, and a decline of 28 percent from last year’s figure of 28,290 when the event was held on a Sunday. The figure was down 14 percent from the 2010 figure of 23,678, the last time the race was held on a Saturday.

The decline surprised track president Joe Harper.

“I had put down 23,000 as an estimate,” Harper said on Sunday.

Al-sources handle, including simulcast and account wagering sources, was $19,385,920, a decline of 4 percent from the 2014 figure of $20,229,844. Around the seventh race, or an hour before the Pacific Classic, account wagering providers TVG and Xpressbet began experiencing transmission problems, Harper said. Harper and other track officials estimate the disruption, which lasted through the conclusion of the program, cost the track up to $2 million in handle.

“They were very apologetic,” Harper said of the account wagering firms. “It’s weird that both went down independent of each other. It was back sporadically.”

There was a handle record set on Saturday. The 50-cent late pick four-pool was guaranteed at $1 million and reached $1,310,044. The previous mark of $1,008,751 was set on Aug. 1.