Total commingled betting on the 14 Breeders’ Cup races held on Friday and Saturday at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Southern California declined 2.4 percent compared to total handle on the same races last year, according to charts of the races.
The slight decline was the second time in the past three years in which year-over-year handle declined on the 14 races that form the brunt of two consecutive cards. In 2023, handle on the 14 Breeders’ Cup races held at Sanita Anita declined 8.9 percent compared to record figures at the 2022 event, which was held at Keeneland.
Total commingled betting on the nine Breeders’ Cup races held on the Saturday card, counting all multi-race wagers that ended in a Breeders’ Cup race, was $107.96 million, up 1.1 percent, while total commingled betting on the Friday card was $40.8 million, down 10.8 percent, in large part due to a 30 percent drop in handle on the Juvenile, which had a six-horse field this year, compared to 10 horses last year.
According to Breeders’ Cup, total betting on the 14 races will grow by at least $27 million when separate-pool handle from other countries is added to the totals. Separate-pool betting on three of the Saturday Breeders’ Cup races in Japan, including the Classic, Mile, and Filly and Mare Turf, was $16.4 million, while separate-pool wagering in Hong Kong on five Breeders’ Cup races was $10.8 million, Breeders’ Cup said.
Claire Crosby, a spokesperson for Breeders’ Cup, said that separate-pool data for other countries was still being tallied on Monday afternoon.
“Once all separate-pool data is finalized, total handle for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup World Championships is expected to set a new record, even with a shorter field than usual in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile,” Crosby said.
The race order of the Saturday Breeders’ Cup races was modified somewhat by running the Breeders’ Cup Classic later in the card, as the ninth race on the 12-race card, rather than as the eighth race last year. Breeders’ Cup has placed the Classic near the middle of the Breeders’ Cup slate for the past two years to secure a broadcast television window on NBC.
Total betting on the Classic, including all multi-race bets ending in the race, was down 6.6 percent this year, to $22.1 million, a strong result considering this year’s Classic had a nine-horse field, compared to a 14-horse field last year. The Classic this year had a post time of 3:27 p.m. local time, or 6:27 Eastern. It was run approximately 45 minutes earlier last year.
While betting was down only marginally in the Classic’s win, place, and show pools, and exacta betting dropped 6.4 percent, wagering in the trifecta pool was down 13.3 percent and the superfecta pool dropped 18 percent, consistent with the much smaller field.
A total of 102 horses ran in the nine Breeders’ Cup races on Saturday this year, compared to 100 runners last year. In the five Breeders’ Cup races on Friday, 51 horses ran, compared to 54 horses last year.
According to Breeders’ Cup, the total handle for the entire 12-race Saturday card was $118.03 million, while total handle on the 10-race card on Friday was $62.01 million, for a total of $180.04 million, the third-highest total in history. The record of $189.06 million was set in 2022, when the event was held at Keeneland.
Attendance on Saturday was 35,173, according to Breeders’ Cup. Attendance on Friday was 30,059, for a total of 65,232. Last year over the two days at Del Mar, total attendance was 67,418.
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