On-Track Figures Improve at Bay Meadows

(edited Bay Meadows report)
Bay Meadows concluded its 2004 55-day spring meeting with increases in both on-track attendance and on-track handle, but overall handle declined by 4%.

On-track attendance improved 7.7% with average daily attendance of 3,587 compared to 3,331 in 2003. On-track wagering, including live and import handle, increased by 2.6%, from $43.4 million to $44.5 million.

Total handle fell 4%. All source wagering, including advance deposit wagering, totaled $233.4 million for the 2004 spring meet, compared to $243.3 million for the same period a year ago.

Off-track wagering in the Northern California network, including handle generated at satellite sites and by account wagering, slipped by 1.6% from $92.5 million to $91.0 million. Overall handle generated in Northern California, including advanced deposit wagering, dropped by 0.3 percent.

Export wagering by out of state customers declined by 8.8%, from $107.4 million to $97.9 million.

Meet highlights included a single day handle record for a Northern California Thoroughbred host track on Kentucky Derby Day (May 1) when live and import wagers totaled $10,536,789. On Memorial Day (May 31), Bay Meadows attracted 11,004 fans, its largest on-track crowd since 1993.

On the racetrack, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and jockey Russell Baze dominated once again. Hollendorfer saddled 64 winners to record his 28th straight training crown at Bay Meadows. Baze won 90 races to earn his 31st career riding title at the Peninsula track.

Hollendorfer enjoyed tremendous success in stakes events, winning seven of the 14 stakes run at the meeting, including the $100,000 Seabiscuit Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. III) with Yougottawanna. In four stakes, Hollendorfer saddled the first two finishers.

Hollendorfer reached an impressive career milestone during the spring season when he notched his 4,000th career training victory on April 15. Hollendorfer became only the sixth trainer in Thoroughbred racing history to win 4,000 races.

Baze won four stakes, including the California Derby with Trieste's Honor and the Seabiscuit BC Handicap, to finish as the leading stakes rider at the meeting.