Led by a double-digit decline in handle on the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which was run as the seventh race on the Breeders’ Cup slate Saturday, rather than its traditional spot as last of nine, total handle on the 14 races held at Santa Anita on Friday and Saturday dropped 8.9 compared to last year’s record handle, according to charts of the races. Total handle for the 14 races this year was $147.6 million, according to the charts, down $14.4 million compared to the record handle of $162 million set last year at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington. Handle in the straight and single-race exotic pools for the Classic was down 18.3 percent, or approximately $3.4 million. The Saturday slate this year was upended due to NBC Sports’ new commitment to prime-time college football coverage on Saturday nights. That led Breeders’ Cup and NBC to move the Classic up two spots in the lineup to broadcast the race live on NBC, rather than one of its sister channels. The Classic went off at 6:40 p.m. Eastern time, or 3:40 Pacific. In the seventh spot, the Classic pools this year suffered in comparison to the final Breeders’ Cup spot last year, with straight betting down 17.5 percent, exacta betting down 18.4 percent, trifecta betting down 20.8 percent, and superfecta betting down 17.0 percent. In total, $15.2 million was bet in the straight pools and single-race exotics this year, down 18.3 percent compared to the $18.6 million bet in those pools for the Classic last year. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. But the Classic was not the only weak spot in the lineup. As was the case for the Friday card, betting was noticeably weaker in most of the races on Saturday, despite the Breeders’ Cup slate starting approximately 2 1/2 hours later this year than last. Holding the races later in the day usually results in higher handle. Breeders’ Cup had a high hurdle to climb to beat last year’s record figures, which were up 4.9 percent on the record set the year earlier. Last year’s card was headlined by Flightline, the eventual undefeated Horse of the Year, whereas this year’s card suffered from several withdrawals of top-class horses, including Kentucky Derby winner Mage and Horse of the Year candidate Arcangelo, both from the Classic. This year’s total handle was also down compared to betting for the 14 races held at Del Mar in California in 2021, when handle was $154.45 million. With the Classic moved to seventh, the late-card multi-leg pools finished on the Sprint, the last race of the day. Handle on the pick three ending in the Sprint was down 34.6 percent compared to the pick three ending in the Classic last year. The pick four was down 28.6 percent; the pick five was down 15.6 percent, and the pick six was down 18.8 percent. Handle could have been negatively impacted by several factors, including mild and sunny weather across most of the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard. In addition, the last two races of the day, the Turf Sprint and the Sprint, were broadcast on FanDuel TV and Peacock, NBC’s subscription streaming service, limiting the race’s reach. Field sizes were slightly down for the 2023 Saturday card, with a total of 93 horses in the nine Breeders’ Cup races on Saturday, compared to 99 for the Breeders’ Cup slate last year. Total handle for all 12 races held on Saturday was $114.15 million. On Friday, total handle for 10 races was $62.14 million, for a two-day total of $176.3 million, down 6.7 percent from the total for both full cards at Keeneland last year. Attendance on Saturday was 66,247, down slightly from the 68,011 reported to be in attendance for the Saturday card of the 2019 Breeders’ Cup, the last time the event was held at Santa Anita. Ontrack handle over the two days was $19.42 million, Breeders’ Cup said. :: Get ready for Santa Anita racing with DRF PPs, Clocker Reports, Picks, and more. Shop Now.  Whereas the first three spots in the five Breeders’ Cup races on Friday were dominated by longshots, the Breeders’ Cup slate on Saturday was unusually formful. Winning favorites typically increase the amount of money churned through the pools, a dynamic that did not appear on Friday, when wagering totals weakened as the afternoon wore on. Friday handle ended up down nearly 9 percent from last year’s record Friday handle. Favorites won the first four Breeders’ Cup races on Saturday, and the co-favorite won the fifth, with the other co-favorite finishing fifth. Favorites then won the next three races – the Distaff, the Turf, and the Classic. Nobals, the 12-1 sixth choice, won the Turf Sprint, and the card was capped by another favorite, Elite Power, winning the Sprint. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.