Annual Japan Racing Association handle through 288 meetings this year reached ¥3,333,784,890,900 (approximately US$20.94 billion), which is a 1.4% increase compared to 2023 and has increased for 13 consecutive years.
The JRA hosted its final meetings of 2024 at Nakayama and Kyoto Dec. 28.
The record annual handle, ¥4,000,661,663,100 (approximately US$25.13 billion) was established in 1997. It declined for 14 consecutive years and hit bottom in 2011 when annual handle was ¥2,293,578,053,600 (approximately US$14.41 billion). The 2024 figure is still 83.3% of the peak year while it is 145.4% of the bottom year.
For this season Yoshito Yahagi finished as the leading trainer by wins at JRA meets in 2024, winning 55 races. The title actually came down to a tiebreaker as Naosuke Sugai also won 55 races. But runners trained by Yahagi finished second 45 times while Sugai's runners finished second 38 times. This is a fifth title for Yahagi, who previously won in 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2022.
Yasuo Tomomichi was the leading trainer by purse earnings for the first time in his career. His runners earned ¥2,296,145,000 (approximately US$14.4 million).
Christophe Lemaire led all jockeys by both number of wins and purse earnings, winning 176 races and earning ¥3,651,962,000 (US$22.94 million). This is the seventh time Lemaire has led the table by number of wins and the eighth time by purse earnings.
The first JRA meetings in 2025 are scheduled for Jan. 5 at Nakayama and Chukyo.
