Total betting on the nine Breeders’ Cup races held on Saturday at Del Mar in Southern California was up 4.0 percent compared to total betting on the Saturday Breeders’ Cup slate last year at Santa Anita Park, according to charts of the races. The Saturday total, $106.76 million, validated a decision by Breeders’ Cup to significantly alter the Saturday race order to fit the day’s most prestigious races into an early-afternoon broadcast window on the flagship station of NBC, the Breeders’ Cup’s broadcast partner. On Saturday, the Breeders’ Cup Classic was run in the middle of the nine-race sequence for the first time, with a local post time of 2:47 p.m. Pacific. Single-race handle on the race – which had a 14-horse field, compared to 13 horses last year – was up 15.4 percent compared to last year, when the Classic was run in the seventh slot of the sequence, according to the charts. Total single-race handle on the Classic was $17.44 million, compared to $15.20 million last year. Including multi-race bets that ended in this year’s Classic, total handle on the race was $24.55 million. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. The Classic was preceded by the Turf, which was preceded by the Distaff. Total single-race betting on the Distaff plummeted 23.3 percent in the third spot of the lineup, compared to the fifth spot last year, but that was more a function of the seven-horse field and the presence of 2-5 Thorpedo Anna, who easily won. A total of 100 runners competed in the nine Saturday Breeders’ Cup races this year, compared to 93 last year. The 14 Breeders’ Cup races held at Del Mar on Friday and Saturday attracted total comingled handle of $152.49 million, up 3.3 percent compared to total handle of $147.59 million last year, according to the charts. A total of $101.12 million was bet on single-race wagers for the 14 Breeders’ Cup races this year, up 2.6 percent compared to the single-race total last year. Handle on multi-race bets was $51.37 million, up 4.8 percent compared to the same category last year. Handle on the All Dirt Pick 4 on Saturday was $401,160 this year, down 8.4 percent compared to handle on the bet last year. Handle on the All Turf Pick 4 was $592,176, down 9.2 percent compared to the same bet last year. This year, takeout on the two special pick 4 bets was 23.68 percent. Last year, the two bets had a special reduced takeout of 15 percent. Total handle on the 12-race card on Saturday was $115,544,920, slightly higher than $114,145,050 at Santa Anita last year, according to Breeders’ Cup. The Saturday card at the 2022 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland in Kentucky was the highest ever recorded, at $122.9 million. Ontrack handle on Saturday at Del Mar was $11,767,353, down from $12.8 million at Santa Anita last year, according to Breeders’ Cup. Total all-sources handle for both the Friday and Saturday full cards was $179,218,631, an increase from $176.2 million from 2023 at Santa Anita, according to Breeders’ Cup. The all-time record for all-sources handle for the two days of the Breeders’ Cup event was set in 2022, at $189.06 million. This was the third time Del Mar has hosted the Breeders’ Cup. In 2017, the Saturday program had an all-sources handle of $113.8 million, a figure that rose to $121.2 million in 2021. Saturday’s program had an ontrack attendance of 36,436, far below the announced crowd of 66,247 at Santa Anita in 2023, but higher than the 2021 audience of 26,553, the last time the event was held at Del Mar. That event was held at a time when international travel was still slightly curtailed by the pandemic. Del Mar drew an on-track audience of 37,692 for its Saturday program in 2017. - additional reporting by Steve Andersen   :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.