Total commingled wagering on the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville set a record and was up 10.1 percent over the record betting last year, according to charts of the races. Total betting, including the multi-race bets ending in the Derby, was $198.3 million, up $18.16 million over last year’s record, according to the charts. The total was easily a record for any race ever run in North America, continuing a strong run for Derby handle since the waning of the pandemic. For the entire 14-race card on Saturday, total betting was a record $306.9 million, according to the charts, up 9.6 percent over total betting last year. A total of 155 horses ran on this year’s card, while 143 horses ran in the 14 races last year. Attendance on Saturday was 156,710, Churchill said, the highest number since 2018. Twenty horses started in the Derby this year, compared to 18 last year, driving up handle. In addition, sports betting was legalized in Kentucky between the 2023 Derby and this year’s edition, expanding the pool of bettors who could use their wagering apps to bet on the race this year. :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  The influence of expanded sports betting, not just in Kentucky, but throughout the U.S., was most discernible in the straight pools, where total wagering was up 17.0 percent this year, building off an 18 percent gain in the same pools last year. Most sports-betting apps centered their promotions on bets in the straight pools, both this year and last year. The lead-up to the Derby this year was free of the controversy surrounding last year’s Derby, when seven horses died at Churchill Downs in the two weeks prior to the race. Last year’s Derby was also marred by the race-day scratch of the favorite, Forte, who was one of five horses either scratched or withdrawn from the race after entries were taken. While all of the races on Friday’s card at Churchill were run on a sloppy, sealed racetrack, the late-morning hours Saturday in Louisville were free of any additional precipitation, and the track was rated fast by the sixth race. Despite the threat of pop-up showers, the weather remained dry for the remainder of the card, and the Derby was run on a fast track. Unlike last year, when betting was up significantly in the straight pools but down in the exotic pools compared to 2022, all of the single-race pools were up this year. Exacta betting was up 2.5 percent; trifecta betting was up 5.8 percent; the superfecta pool was up 5.1 percent; and the Super High 5 was up 26.0 percent. Those increases were likely due to the higher field size this year. The race prior to the Derby, the Turf Classic, had massive gains in handle compared to the same race in the same slot last year. Betting on the 10-horse Turf Classic field in all the same-race pools was up 33.1 percent, or nearly $4 million, compared to the eight-horse Turf Classic last year. Handle on the 2023 Turf Classic itself was up 18.0 percent compared to 2022, indicating that the late races on the Churchill card have begun drawing more attention from bettors. In a press release issued after the charts were produced, Churchill said that separate-pool wagering in Japan on the Derby was $10.1 million. Two runners bred in Japan, Forever Young, the third choice in the commingled wagering, and T O Password, ran in the Derby this year. In its release, Churchill said that total wagering on the Derby was $210.7 million, including the Japan separate-pool betting and total betting from six future bets that Churchill hosted prior to the Derby this year. On Friday, betting for the Kentucky Oaks card also set a record, at $75.3 million, up slightly from the record set in 2023. Attendance on Friday was 107,236, Churchill said.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.