Santa Anita earns bragging rights Saturday in east/west rivalry

Oct. 4, 2011 - It was billed as “Breeders’ Cup Challenge Day” at Santa Anita and “Super Saturday” at Belmont. On opposite coasts, racing fans were bombarded Saturday, Oct. 1 by an astounding array of top class racing. There were a combined total of ten Grade 1 events serving as prep races to determine which elite runners would head to the Breeders’ Cup World Championship on Nov. 4 and 5 at Churchill Downs.

In the traditional friendly rivalry between the east and west coast tracks, Santa Anita on Saturday outdid Belmont in both on-track attendance and wagering handle while Belmont, with six Grade 1 races to Santa Anita’s four, recorded higher all sources handle.

On a picture-perfect Indian summer day at Santa Anita, where fans cheered on Creative Cause in the Norfolk, Zazu in the Lady’s Secret, Game On Dude in the Goodwood, and Dubawi Heights in the Yellow Ribbon, the on-track crowd of 16,013 wagered $2,716,576.

On a picturesque east coast day at Belmont, where Flat Out, Havre de Grace, Uncle Mo, Giant Ryan, Cape Blanco and Stacelita won prestigious graded stakes, on-track attendance was 10,481, and on-track handle was $2,647,323.

All-sources handle, including off-track and out-of-state wagering, for Belmont Park was $16,666,393, while all-sources handle for Santa Anita was $14,303,393.*

Saturday also marked opening weekend of the inaugural Autumn Meet at Santa Anita, where optimism runs high for racing’s future at the Arcadia track.

“It was great racing,” said Santa Anita President George Haines. “And we expected great racing to come back at Santa Anita.”

*Note: an originally published all-source handle figure for Santa Anita of $11,678,920 did not include ADW wagering.

Read more: The Examiner