Handle hits a record $154 million

Total commingled betting on the 14 Breeders’ Cup races held at Del Mar outside of San Diego on Friday and Saturday was $154.45 million, according to charts of the races, a record for the event and up 9.5 percent over the amount bet on the races last year at Keeneland Racecourse in Kentucky.

The record was set despite weaker overall handle totals on the Breeders’ Cup Classic this year and an incident in the last race on Friday that resulted in millions of dollars being refunded on two horses that were scratched at the gate (although one of the scratched horses raced for purse money only).

The commingled handle total includes wagering in 27 countries, but it does not include separate-pool wagering that was hosted in 10 countries, including Japan and Hong Kong, two of the largest wagering markets in the world. Japan created separate pools for three of the races held Saturday – including the Filly and Mare Turf, which was won by a Japan-based horse – while Hong Kong hosted separate pools for two of the Saturday races, the Mile and the Turf.

Total commingled handle for the nine races held on Saturday was $112.14 million, according to the charts, while handle for the five Friday races was $42.31 million.

Handle figures for individual races on Saturday were generally up double-digits, with the exception of two races that had short fields. In addition, total handle on the Classic, which had eight horses this year, was down 4.6 percent compared to the 10-horse Classic last year. The Classic handle this year, including all multi-race bets that ended in the race, was $34.73 million.

This year’s event was held on the West Coast, which generally posts higher numbers than an East Coast site. In addition, Del Mar had fewer restrictions for ontrack attendance than ast year at Keeneland.

Still, the precautions in place at Del Mar limited attendance to a total of 47,089 over both days. The crowd on Saturday was noticeably larger than the Friday crowd.

On Friday, the scratches in the Juvenile Turf resulted in precipitous drops in handle totals for all of the straight and exotic pools for the race due to the large amount of refunds that had to be issued. The scratches caused an uproar among many bettors due to the fact that one of the scratched horses, the eventual winner, was allowed to run for purse money only, nullifying the selection in many multi-race bets.