Santa Anita crowds up 21%

Horse racing at Santa Anita Park got out of the gate extremely fast this season.

The biggest opening day crowd since 1994 (44,579 on Dec. 26) proved to be no one-trick pony, with on-track attendance through the first six days of racing up 21% and on-track handle up 11%. Out-of-state handle also surged 18% from a year ago while Southern California Off Track Wagering Inc. (SCOTWinc) handle showed a 10% increase and all sources Santa Anita handle was up 14% through week-one.

“We’re obviously very pleased to be off to such a strong start and we want to sincerely thank our fans and horsemen for making this possible,” said Santa Anita President George Haines. “We’ve been lucky with the weather and our field size has been good. We’ve been able to average nine horses per race and there’s no question that has provided better gambling opportunities for our players.”

The weather forecast for the coming days and the line-up of special events scheduled for January portends continued success for Santa Anita.

— By Scott Hettrick