Santa Anita's 23-day Autumn Meet drew to a close on Sunday with the track posting significant gains in attendance and handle, independent of the two-day Breeders' Cup World Championships event that was hosted by Santa Anita for a record ninth time this past Friday and Saturday, it was announced Tuesday.
On-track attendance for the 21 non-Breeders' Cup racing days was up 25 percent compared to 19 racing days a year ago, while on-track handle showed an increase over 21 days of 15% over 19 days in 2015. Average daily attendance saw a 14% hike and average daily on-track handle was up 4%. All sources handle for the 21 non Breeders' Cup days was up 12%.
Santa Anita's all sources combined pari-mutuel handle for Breeders' Cup Friday and Saturday was also up to $159,991,831, a 3.2% increase over the 2014 Breeders' Cup at The Great Race Place. On-track handle over both days was $21,241,095, a 3.1% increase over 2014.
Perennial leading jockey Rafael Bejarano notched his 15th Santa Anita riding title with 22 wins, two more than runner-up Kent Desormeaux. The Autumn Meet title was Bejarano's 32nd overall title and his 27th in Southern California. Bejarano had two stakes wins, finishing three behind both Desormeaux and Flavien Prat. Peter Miller won the trainers' title, outlasting runners-up Bob Baffert and Doug O'Neill with 23 total wins.
Live racing returns to Santa Anita with day one of the track's traditional Winter Meet on Dec. 26.
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