by Ed DeRosa

One more Breeders’ Cup race on Championship Friday helped make up for one less race on the entire card, as total handle increased 1% on the first of two days at this year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships and business on track soared at Santa Anita Park.

For the second consecutive year, the Breeders’ Cup is staging its two-day World Championships event at the Arcadia, California, track, and perhaps that familiarity bred business as 37,651 attended Friday’s races, up 20.5% versus last year and up 35.4% versus the inaugural Friday card in 2007 at Monmouth Park.

Breeders’ Cup’s marketing efforts in the Los Angeles area included staging the first-ever tweet up “Tweeters’ Cup” on Championship Friday, appealing more to celebrities to attend the races.

From a wagering perspective, Breeders’ Cup hoped to expand its signal internationally and multi-race wagers more enticing on Friday by offering all Breeders’ Cup pick six and pick four sequences, and total handle improved 1% to $48,439,458 despite one less race on the card. An additional $1,159,007 from a separate pool was wagered in France.

On-track wagering handle improved 3.6% to $7,097,789 and was up 9.8% when compared with the first nine races last year.

“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,” said Breeders’ Cup President Greg Avioli.

Ed DeRosa is news editor for Thoroughbred Times