Attendance and handle up on Breeders' Cup Friday

Attendance for Breeders' Cup Championship Friday at Santa Anita Park increased by 20 percent over Championship Friday last year as 37, 651 were on hand today for the nine-race card that included six Breeders' Cup World Championships races. Attendance on Championship Friday in 2008 was 31,257.

The common-pool handle for the nine races was $48,439,458 a 1 percent increase over the 2008 10-race Friday card. An additional $1,159,007 in a separate pool was wagered in France.

A total of approximately $8.8 million was wagered through exchange wagering on Betfair.

The on-track handle was $7,097,789, an increase of 3.6 percent from 2008. On-track handle increased by 9.8 percent when comparing wagering totals from the first nine races of last year's Friday card to this year's nine races, when $6,463,571 was bet 12 months ago.

The common-pool handle for Friday does not include the Classic Double on the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic (G1) and the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) or the inaugural jockeys bet.

"This was an encouraging start for the event with solid support from the Southern California racing fans. We saw strong performances today on track, at the turnstiles and at the betting windows," Breeders' Cup President and CEO Greg Avioli said.

"(Friday's) strong wagering figures are an encouraging sign for Saturday's program with the great anticipation and fan appeal of Zenyatta's (Street Cry [Ire]) participation in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic," said Sherwood C. Chillingworth, executive vice president of the Oak Tree Racing Association.

Friday's program was the first of the two-day, 14- race, $25.5 million Breeders' Cup World Championships held during the Oak Tree Racing Association meeting at Santa Anita. The 26th Breeders' Cup concludes Saturday with eight World Championships races.