Strong Numbers For Woodbine Turf Champions Day

Tuesday, September 17, 2024 | 2:43 pm

Toronto ON.September 14, 2024.Woodbine Racetrack.Jockey Patrick Husbands guides Win for the Money in the $1,000,000 dollar Rogers Woodbine Mile.Win for the Money (white red dots red cap black sleeves) is owned by Live Oak Plantation and trained by Mark Casse.Woodbine/ Michael Burns Photo

This year's Woodbine's Turf Champions Day, held Saturday, Sept. 14, saw a 9 percent increase in total wagering from last year. The all-sources handle for the day, which was headlined by the GI Rogers Woodbine Mile and a trio of Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' races, was $13,339,206, up from last year's $12.1 million. The $13.3 million handle is also the second highest ever for a Woodbine Mile card.

Additionally, wagering in the local Ontario area also saw an 8.9 percent increase from the previous year and a strong crowd helped push on-track wagering up significantly by 26.1 percent.

“We couldn't have asked for a better day to showcase racing at Woodbine,” said Woodbine CEO Michael Copeland. “A lot of factors played into a successful Turf Champions Day, including the world-class competition of our top stakes races, the influx of top jockeys and trainers from around the world, and outstanding weather, which we were certainly due to receive.”

With an average field size of 9.3, the average per-race handle was $1.1 million and $1.3 million on the stakes.

“We want to thank all the participants that ran their horses on Saturday's Turf Champions Day, whether local or traveling from overseas,” said Copeland. “We're always ready or these big moments and our racing team did a great job putting together a deep and competitive day of racing.”