The Oak Tree Racing Association’s 40th annual meeting finished on a high note
as the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, run this past Friday and Saturday,
generated the strongest attendance and handle figures of the meet, which had
been negatively effected by the sluggish local and national economy.
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships were held as a two-day event for the
first time in Oak Tree at Santa Anita history. On-track attendance reached
31,257 on Friday and 51,331 on Saturday. All-sources handle on Friday was
$47,863,774, and on Saturday all-sources handle reached $107,610,778. The
two-day all sources handle of $155,474,553 was a 5.5 percent increase over last
year.
“By all accounts, Breeders’ Cup 25 was a tremendous ‘shot in the arm’ for
this sport and Oak Tree at Santa Anita,” Oak Tree Director and Executive Vice
President Sherwood Chillingworth said. “The Pro-Ride synthetic main track
performed beautifully, and we did not have a single injury in the 21 races we
ran on Friday and Saturday. It was imperative that we have a safe, competitive
two-day event on national television (ABC and ESPN), and we did.
“Operationally, things went very well and we are extremely proud of the way
our employees performed on racing’s biggest stage. Along with that, we once
again demonstrated to a national audience that Oak Tree at Santa Anita is, in
our opinion, the number-one racing venue in the world.”
With the two-day Breeders’ Cup leading the way, overall attendance and handle
figures for the 2008 meeting exceeded last year’s numbers, despite the fact this
meet consisted of five fewer racing days. Aside from the Breeders’ Cup, however,
comparative attendance and handle figures were down, as on-track attendance
declined 2 percent and on-track mutuel handle was down 14 percent.
“The success of the two-day Breeders’ Cup obviously helped us tremendously,
and we feel we can do even better next year,” Chillingworth said. “From opening
day (September 24) on, we had great racing and outstanding participation from
the horsemen, but the economy unquestionably hurt us considerably prior to and
through the Breeders’ Cup.
“People and businesses are hurting across board, and it seems no one is
immune to the effects of this troubled economy. The fact that we turned it
around here on closing weekend with the Breeders’ Cup is very encouraging, and
we are certainly hopeful that we’re going to be operating in a better economic
climate next year,” he added.
Sunday’s closing day on-track attendance reached 21,241, a dramatic increase
over last year’s closing day figure of 10,904.
“Today was Fan Appreciation Day, and I think many of our regular customers
came out to enjoy themselves,” Chillingworth said Sunday. “This is a great way
to finish up, and we want to thank our fans and horsemen who have supported us
so consistently. We look forward to our 41st season next year.”
Santa Anita Park will reopen for live racing with its traditional
winter/spring meeting on December 26 and will run through April 19, 2009.