Santa Anita Reports Attendance, Handle Gains
Image:
Description:
Santa Anita Park's 39-day spring meet concluded June 28 with gains in both on-track attendance and total pari-mutuel handle.
Combined with its 68-day winter meet that ran from Dec. 26-April 19, on-track attendance was up 7%, while total handle was up 3% and exceeded $1 billion for the second year in a row, the track said in a release that did not include a breakdown of the numbers.
For the spring meet, total handle of more than $311 million was up about 4.3%, while on-track wagering on live races increased less than 1% to about $33.4 million, according to CHRIMS, which tracks wagering for various outlets around the country.
"First off, we want to sincerely thank our fans, owners, horsemen, and our jockeys for a very successful meet," Santa Anita chairman Keith Brackpool said. "We're very proud of the fact our turf course and main track again performed extremely well, which enabled us to consistently field a world- class product.
Among the meet highlights was a June 27 public appearance by Santa Anita-based Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
"We also want to thank Bob Baffert and his team for sharing America's newest Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah, so graciously with our fans and media ever since his arrival back here on June 18," Brackpool said. "We had a tremendous crowd here on Gold Cup day (June 27) of more than 21,000 people, and many of them were here to see American Pharoah."
Santa Anita will re-open for live racing Sept. 26.