While Funny Cide romped to victory in the 129th Kentucky Derby, South Texas horse racing fans flooded Retama Park and recorded the track’s second highest handle ever. Attendance and on-track wagering were positive punctuations to the beginning of the 2003 live racing season.

More than $1 million dollars was wagered Saturday at Retama Park. In fact, the $1,073,886 total was the second highest since the track opened in 1995 and represented a 9.5% increase over Derby Day of 2002. The seven-figure total included $224,003 (up 27%) wagered on live racing and $849,883 (up 5.5%) wagered at Retama Park on races around the country.

“It is only a snap shot of our season, but anytime you show almost a ten percent increase in business, of course we are very happy,” said Retama Park CEO Bryan Brown.

On-track attendance of 7,495 was 5% more than the 2002 number of 7,134, and total wagering on Retama Park’s live races was up 14% for the three-day weekend.