A spokesperson for Santa Anita Consolidated has indicated that there is no intention of moving the Santa Anita Park race track to the $100 million sports complex proposed for the City of Los Angeles by Hollywood Park, Inc.
30 people were injured on opening day at Santa Anita Park when two men became involved in an altercation. One dropped a gun and this was enough to cause a wave of panic which spread through the crowd.
The California Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles has applied for a 2 week fair race meeting, to be held at Santa Anita Park Race Track from September 30 to October 10, 1979.
The current racing meeting will open Thursday December 27. Sunday racing will be inaugurated for the first time in Arcadia. Track officials are uncertain as to how the energy crisis will affect operations.
The City Council is considering collecting taxes on free admissions to the Santa Anita Park race track. It would mean considerably greater income for the City.
Bill Quiggle, who has been Santa Anita Park track superintendent since 1949, retired at the end of the 1977 racing season. The track and all plantings were his domain.
Arcadia would lose approximately $472,268 yearly if Santa Anita Park race track were to close down and the 324 acre facility were to be developed with low density residential units. Losses would be partially offset by $190,750 in new property taxes and $278,482 miscellaneous taxes. New city services would account for a 6.18% increase in the city budget.
Santa Anita Park set a record for total attendance (2,690,834) and had it highest daily average attendance (31,289) since 1948, as the 1981-82 meeting closed April 21. Facts and figures about the racing season are presented.
A bill that could generate an estimated $700,000 yearly in additional race track revenue for Arcadia cleared the State Assembly on Thursday and now heads for the Senate. The bill, AB 2780, seeks to authorize Arcadia and other cities to collect up to 1/3 of 1% of the total amount bet at a race track within their boundaries if the city were willing to forego any tax on admissions or parking. Arcadia has never charged a parking tax at Santa Anita Park. Arcadia city officials are neutral at this point, according to City Manager George Watts.
Chic Anderson, one of the finest thoroughbred racing announcers known for his work at the Kentucky Derby and other major races, has been named to be the announcer at Santa Anita Park for 1975.
In a pre-dawn raid at Santa Anita Park race track, immigration and border patrol agents arrested 173 illegal aliens from 8 countries. As many as 600 other illegals believed to be working at Santa Anita Park escaped arrest by moving to Hollywood Park.
The city of Arcadia has already received two checks from Santa Anita Park race track, the first payments on its one-third of 1% of the parimutuel take.
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.