Combined average daily handle from all sources (excluding Breeders' Cup Day) declined 0.8% for the Oak Tree meeting. Average daily handle from all sources was $9,631,159 versus $9,709,897 last year. Average daily on-track handle for the 31 days of the Oak Tree meeting (not including Breeders' Cup Day) was down 3.1% compared to last season; handle at Southern California satellite wagering facilities declined 2.1% and out-of-state handle on Oak Tree races declined 5%.Advance Deposit Wagering increased from an average daily total of $543,474 last year to $804,015 per race date this year, an increase of 47.9%.On-track attendance (excluding Breeders' Cup Day) declined 9.2% from 9,813 per day last year to 8,913 per day this season."Although we started strongly, we were unable to overcome a barrage of unfortunate events that occurred in Southern California during our meeting and negatively impacted our on-track attendance and handle," said Chillingworth. A transit strike left more than 400,000 daily bus and train riders without transportation; a series of wild fires that burned for nine days from San Diego to the Simi Valley displaced thousands of people and destroyed more than 3,400 homes and a supermarket strike idled more than 70,000 workers.On-track average daily handle declined from $2,044,989 last year to $1,981,805 this season, while average daily handle at the Southern California satellite locations declined from $2,712,390 to $2,655,071 this season.
"We are disappointed that the success of Breeders' Cup Day did not carry over to the rest of our meeting," said Chillingworth. " We believe, however, that were it not for the strikes and fires, we would have seen much better results."