Hindered by cancellations on high-profile days during the holidays, handle on races run at Santa Anita declined at the winter-spring meeting that ended Sunday. During the 46-day season, handle on races run at Santa Anita from ontrack, simulcast, and account-wagering sources was more than $334.8 million compared to $398.2 million during the 49-day 2024-25 meeting, according to figures compiled by Daily Racing Form. Average daily handle on races run at Santa Anita this year was more than $7.27 million compared to more than $8.12 million in 2024-25. The 2023-24 winter-spring meeting had 46 days of racing with an average daily handle of more than $7.61 million on races run at Santa Anita. This year’s meeting was plagued by inclement weather at the worst time. The first two days of the meeting – Dec. 26-27, a Friday and Saturday – were canceled as were five other days from Dec. 31-Feb. 16, including New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The loss of opening day, and part of that holiday weekend, limited business on what is typically one of the busiest segments of the season in terms of an ontrack crowd and handle. Opening day of the 2024-25 meeting, held on Thursday, Dec. 26, had an all-sources handle of more than $21.4 million. Attendance was announced as 37,143. This year’s rearranged opening day on Dec. 28 had an announced crowd of 41,962. In a text message Monday, track general manager Nate Newby projected the Dec. 26-27 programs would have had combined all-sources handle of approximately $30 million. Newby said the loss of those days were “definitely a big part of why we were down. Make-up days are never as strong as the cancellation day, especially when you trade a weekend for a weekday.” The track held four make-up days, but three were run on Thursdays. Overall, Santa Antia canceled seven days of racing because of weather-related issues. At the 2024-25 winter-spring meeting, three days were lost because of devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area. No racing days were lost at that meeting because of rain. Three make-up days were held in January and March in 2025. At the meeting that ended Sunday, fields averaged 7.27 runners per race compared to an average of 7.55 runners per race at the 2024-25 winter-spring meeting. Of the 419 races run this year, 209 were on dirt and 210 were on turf. At the 2024-25 meeting, there were 478 races, with 255 on dirt and 223 on turf. The number of turf races at the 2023-24 meeting exceeded dirt races, 211 to 206. At this year’s meeting, jockey Emisael Jaramillo, riding full time in California for the first time, led all riders with 50 wins, eight more than Juan Hernandez. Jaramillo previously rode at Gulfstream Park and relocated to California at the urging of Doug O’Neill, who led all trainers with 36 wins. Mark Glatt, who won Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby with Kentucky Derby hopeful So Happy, was second with 28 wins. Santa Anita’s spring meeting begins April 17 and continues through June 14. The track has scheduled one make-up day during the meeting on Thursday, April 30. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.