Spring meet daily average handle dips; gross handle up slightly

All-sources daily average handle showed a decline, but gross handle increased at the spring meeting at Santa Anita that ended on Sunday, according to data compiled by Daily Racing Form.

The 29-day meeting, which began on April 19, had handle of $228.6 million, compared to handle of $223.7 million on a 28-day meeting at a similar time in 2023.

Average daily handle in 2023 was $7,991,590 compared to $7,884,438 this year.

Purses fell from a distribution of $15.838 million in 2023 to $14.258 million this year. The track cut overnight purses by approximately 12 percent before the start of the spring meeting in an effort to reduce a purse overpayment of approximately $4 million accrued in recent years.

Santa Anita also cut purses prior to the start of the 2023 spring meeting. Other tracks in the state, notably Del Mar and Los Alamitos in the south, have cut purses in the last year because of an overall decline in wagering.

At Santa Anita, average field size increased slightly, from 7.04 at the 2023 spring meeting to 7.19 this year.

:: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!

Turf racing continues to prove popular with owners and trainers.

At this year’s spring meeting, there were 147 races run on turf with an average of 7.84 runners per race, and 128 races on dirt with an average of 6.44 runners.

Last year, there were 132 races run on turf with an average of 7.64 runners per race, and 134 races on dirt with an average of 6.44 runners per race.

Los Alamitos begins a three-week summer meeting on Saturday, followed by the Del Mar summer meeting that opens on July 20. After Los Alamitos holds a brief meeting in September, racing resumes at Santa Anita for a five-week fall meeting beginning on Sept. 27.

The track’s fall meeting is highlighted by the Grade 1 California Crown, a $1 million race at 1 1/8 miles that is a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 2. The California Crown, to be run on Sept. 28, was previously run as the Awesome Again Stakes and was worth $300,000 in 2023.

With a greater purse for the California Crown, and enhanced purses for other stakes on the same program, Santa Anita management is attempting to replicate the successful Pegasus World Cup program held at Gulfstream Park in late January.

Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita are owned by the same parent company, 1/ST Racing.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.