Attendance was up 4%, but the total handle was down 6% at this weekend's Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park. A crowd of 61,114 attended the races Saturday for the two-day Breeders' Cup, which combined with the crowd on hand Friday, brought the total attendance to 98,319. That is an increase of 4% over last year's attendance of 94,628, which was also held over two days at Santa Anita in the L.A. area. The total amount bet on the two days of racing was $151,158,815, down 6% from the '13 handle figure of $160,704,877. The Breeders' Cup in a statement said that wagering may have been adversely affected by the weather, as two races slated for the turf course on Saturday's undercard were moved to the main track (Liz Mullen, Staff Writer). DAILY RACING FORM's Matt Hegarty noted the handle "ended up being a decent showing for the Breeders’ Cup card considering there was one fewer Breeders’ Cup race this year and that the carryover last year" accounted for $5M in additional handle on the pick five, "a popular 50-cent minimum bet in California." Handle this year would have risen "just slightly" by "subtracting out the handle on the discontinued Marathon from last year and the additional carryover money." Handle on this year’s event was "especially strong, perhaps because of the continuing attraction of California Chrome on his home turf." The day "started ominously, though, with betting on many of the early races down significantly." Betting "picked up later in the afternoon, however, as the Breeders’ Cup event meandered into prime time on a Saturday fouled by poor weather on the East Coast and in the Midwest" (DRF.com, 11/1).
