Handle, field size, attendance rise during Santa Anita meet

Santa Anita concluded the six-month 2024-25 winter-spring season on June 15 by posting encouraging increases in handle, field size, on track attendance and safety.

Santa Anita began its 90th year on Dec. 26 with the third-largest opening day handle in its history. The momentum continued to build with total all source handle for the season, which includes the winter meet from Dec. 26 through April 6 and the spring meet from April 18 through June 15. Handle topped $745 million as horseplayers around the world embraced the player-friendly modifications to Santa Anita’s wagering menu. Total handle on just Santa Anita races increased 10% from the 2023-24 winter-spring meet.

The handle gains benefited from a 5% increase in field size over last year, due in part to the consolidation of California racing into a single circuit. The influx of horses from Northern California were provided numerous opportunities to compete against each other at Santa Anita during the season.

The increased wagering choices also led to increased competition for bettors. The popular Pick 6 resulted in 17 carryovers this season, more than double the eight carryovers the year prior. Santa Anita’s winter-spring turf racing increased in popularity, with handle on the Santa Anita turf Pick 3 rising 31%.

Fueled by the largest opening day crowd in eight years and the largest Santa Anita Derby day crowd in seven years, on track attendance saw a four percent gain, with more than a half-million people enjoying the races on site in Arcadia.

Santa Anita continued to lead the country in safety, improving over last year, which was the best on record. The recently concluded season produced a safety mark of over 99.98%, extending the 1/ST Racing facility’s ranking as the safest track in North America among those with a comparable volume of racing and training. Since the opening day of the autumn meet on Sept. 27 through closing day of the spring meet, 6,830 horses raced over Santa Anita’s main dirt track and turf course. The main track combined with the synthetic training track hosted more than 375,000 morning training sessions during that time.

“This year was a transitional one for the California racing community and it was a success by every measure,” said Nate Newby, senior vice president and general manager of Santa Anita. “We are thankful for the continued support of the owners, trainers, jockeys, veterinarians, the horsemen and women who provide outstanding care for the horses, for the horseplayers who back our product and for our staff for putting on a great show. Horses based at Santa Anita, including Journalism, Raging Torrent and Kopion, won major races around the country, underlining the excellence we experience every day. Between the Eaton fire and the ongoing recovery, 2025 has been a challenging year for our neighbors and many of our own Santa Anita family, but we hope the great race place has provided some sense of continuity.”

“We have witnessed increases in every key category, including 70 additional races and improvements in field sizes, which could only happen through the move to a single circuit,” said Bill Nader, president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California. “This has helped drive handle increases and reverse the downward trend in overnight purses to restore our foundation and bring renewed life to California racing. We will now carry this momentum into the second half of the year as racing moves to Los Alamitos and then the much anticipated Del Mar summer.”

The addition of horses from Northern California pushed the Santa Anita stable area to its capacity of 2,000 horses, a population increase of more than 10% over last year, making the safety improvements even more remarkable.

“More than 5,000 pre-work examinations were performed by Santa Anita veterinarians since Sept. 1 of last year,” said Dionne Benson, chief veterinary officer for 1/ST Racing. “It is impossible to overestimate the importance this played in collaborating with owners, trainers and private veterinarians to provide additional opportunities for intervention for the best interest of the horse and providing a model for the rest of the country.”

Live racing will return to Santa Anita on Sept. 26 for the five-week autumn meet. Seven Breeders’ Cup qualifying races will highlight the first two weeks of the season.