The 2021 Japan Racing Association racing season concluded Dec. 28 with meetings conducted at Nakayama and Hanshin. The total betting turnover for the 288 races in 2021 came to ¥3,091,112,025,800 (about US$26.67 billion), an increase of 3.6% from 2020.
It's worth noting that the total handle for the 24 grade 1 stakes in 2021 was ¥452,351,274,100 ($3.9 billion), a 6.1% increase from last year, and there were a substantial number of newcomers who enjoyed betting on the major races.
The annual handle of JRA races hit rock bottom in 2011, when it was ¥2,293,578,053,600, and 2021 marked the 10th consecutive year it increased. The final figures for 2021 show growth of 34.7% compared with the low of 2011.
The JRA's last day of racing this season provided a thrilling finish for sires of 2-year-olds. Epiphaneia was leading the table the morning of the last meeting before Deep Impact colts Killer Ability and Justin Palace finished first and second, respectively, in the Hopeful Stakes (G1), the feature race at Nakayama, earning ¥98,000,000.
Total season earnings for 2-year-olds by Deep Impact reached ¥476,698,000 ($4,140,666), marking the 11th time in the last 12 years Deep Impact has been Japan's leading 2-year-old sire. He has led the general sires' list for 10 consecutive years in the JRA. Epiphaneia ended the year as the second-leading sire of 2-year-olds, with his juveniles earning ¥401,290,000 ($3,485,661).
