The Breeders' Cup posted a two-day attendance of 118,484 at Santa Anita Park, the highest in the event's history. A crowd of 72,811 was on hand at the L.A.-area track Saturday, the highest single-day attendance since the event went to a two-day format in '07. A crowd of 72,730 attended Saturday races in '10 at Churchill Downs, where Zenyatta was competing in the final race of her career. The 118,484 figure is up 25.5% over two-day attendance of 94,652 at Keeneland last year and up 20.5% over crowds of 98,319 when the Breeders' Cup was held at Santa Anita in '14. The two-day figure is 3.5% higher than the 114,353 in '10. A total of $159,991,803 was wagered on the Breeders' Cup races over the two days, an increase of 6.25% over $150,574,656 wagered in '15. But total wagering was down 10.5% from the $173,857,697 wagered in '10 (Liz Mullen, Staff Writer). In L.A., John Cherwa wrote it was a "remarkable Breeders' Cup." It was "almost as if horse racing had stepped into a time capsule and recaptured a relevance it had long ago lost." The success was "no doubt tied to horses people had heard about," as it was a "perfect mix of the old and new and this time the new seems to be sticking around." The Breeders' Cup "reminded people of the '50s and '60s when people cared about the sport." Cherwa: "Like almost all sports, it showed the importance of having stars" (L.A. TIMES, 11/6).
