Florida Derby Handle Second Highest

Handle on Saturday's Florida Derby Day card at Gulfstream Park was $30.614 million–second highest ever for a Florida Derby card and, excluding Breeders' Cups, the third largest handle at Gulfstream Park. Total handle on Saturday and Sunday of Florida Derby Week was a record $48.792 million, compared to $40.457 million in 2016. Sunday's handle of $18.177 million was helped by a mandatory Rainbow 6 payout in which $7.3 million was wagered. The total Florida Derby handle Saturday was second only to last year's Derby, which produced a total handle of $32.082 million. The largest handle at Gulfstream is $40.2 million, handled Jan. 28 of this year on the inaugural running of the $12-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

“Obviously, you always want to do better than the year before, but we're happy with the way things went Saturday,” said P.J. Campo, Vice President of Racing for The Stronach Group and General Manager of Gulfstream Park. “The most important thing was our jockeys and horses all came back safe and sound and our fans had a great time. Last year we had two undefeated colts in Mohaymen and Nyquist, the two top Triple Crown contenders on both coasts, and we weren't competing against another Triple Crown prep race. We think several horses will come out of Saturday's races and have continued success. We want to thank horsemen who supported our Saturday program and our fans for coming out and enjoying a great Florida tradition. We're now looking forward to our spring and summer meet, which begins Wednesday.”