Handle on the 14-race card at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday shattered the previous record for Travers Day, with a 13.3 percent increase over the 2022 record set for a 13-race lineup, according to figures distributed by the New York Racing Association. Total handle for the card was $63.0 million, up $7.4 million over the $55.6 million record set in 2022, according to the figures. Average handle per race for Saturday’s card was $4.5 million, compared to $4.2 million for the 13-race card in 2022, a difference of 7.1 percent. The Saturday handle was up 24.8 percent over the Travers Day handle last year, when total betting was $50.5 million on a 13-race card. Handle on the Travers itself was up 22.8 percent from $14.9 million last year to $18.3 million this year, according to charts of the races. Saturday’s Travers had an eight-horse field, compared to seven horses last year. :: Gain a competitive edge at Saratoga with DRF's premier handicapping data — purchase our meet packages today and bet with confidence. The Travers this year was an especially competitive betting race, with four horses in the eight-horse field going off at 4.60-1 or lower. The field this year also included a division-leading filly, Thorpedo Anna, who went off as the second choice and finished a head back to the winner, Fierceness, the third choice. Last year’s Travers was won by Arcangelo, the 2.70-1 second choice. The 1.75-1 favorite, Forte, finished fourth.  NYRA added a race to this year’s Travers card due to weather cancellations earlier in the meet. The last time NYRA carded 14 races on a Travers Day was 2014, when total handle for the day was $39.9 million. Since then, with the exception of the COVID year in 2020, NYRA has carded 13 races on Travers Day. The presence of Thorpedo Anna in the race generated outsized media coverage for a typical Travers. In addition, betting on big racing days in recent years has benefited from the growth of sports betting throughout the U.S., and Saturday’s Travers was run in a window in which there were few other sports-betting opportunities – and in the immediate lead-up to two college football games, held one week before the traditional starting date for college football. Gains from sports betting in big races has shown up most clearly in the win, place, and show pools, especially in recent Triple Crown races. Betting in the straight pools for Saturday’s Travers was $6.4 million, up 25.5 percent compared to $5.1 million in the straight pool last year. Exacta betting on Saturday’s Travers was up 23.9 percent, from $2.4 million last year to $3 million this year. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.