Karen Garr is one of 400 pari-mutual clerks behind the betting windows at Arcadia's Santa Anita Park. The 44 year old Arcadia resident has been close to the race track since 1969, when she started as a "pony girl" in the back stretch of Santa Anita Park.
City officials met with new Santa Anita Park owner Frank Stronach to discuss his plans for the race track. He wants to build a retail and entertainment village and an interactive horse racing theme park.
If the lottery initiative on the November ballot passes, Santa Anita Park race track could go out of business, dragging down with it reserves that the city of Arcadia obtains from the track's handle, according to Robert Sweeney, executive vice president and general manager of the California Thoroughbred Association.
City Councilman Bob Harbicht, now running for the 59th Assembly District seat, accepted a $25,000 donation from the entity that manages Santa Anita Park.
$300,0000 worth of imaging equipment and the facility to house it were donated to the Park by the Southern California Equine Foundation. The nuclear imaging equipment is used like an X-ray to diagnose bone fractures and strains in horses.
If Santa Anita Park race track and other tracks cannot successfully compete with the just instituted state lottery that results from the passage of Proposition 37, the horse racing industry may go to Sacramento to seek tax relief, according to Robert Strub, president of the Los Angeles Turf Club.
Santa Anita Park completed its most successful season ever with $445 million wagered. Total attendance was also an all-time high. The admission tax netted the city $1.1 million. The Park's other contributions to the city are discussed.