Race horse Majestic Harbor, ridden by jockey Tyler Baze, wins the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita Park yesterday. The Gold Cup was formerly known as the Hollywood Gold Cup when it was run at Hollywood Park race track.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert's horse Gabby's Golden Gal (owned by Arnold Zetcher) won the Santa Monica Handicap at Santa Anita Park. The jockey was Martin Garcia.
Racehorse Vino Rosso gets Classic victory. Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. rode Vino Rosso to win the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park yesterday.
Breeders' Cup World Championships the "Super Bowl of horse racing" took place at at Santa Anita Park yesterday and Friday. Attendance was 55,123 on Saturday. Jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr., on horse Fort Larned, won the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday, and horse Wise Dan won the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile.
Trainer John Sadler, a 54-year old Long Beach native, watched from home with a knee injury, as his trainees Switch, Sidney's Candy, and Twirling Candy) win three stakes races on Santa Anita Park's opening day of the 2010-2011 season, its 74th racing season.
Art Wilson recaps the Santa Anita Handicap "Big 'Cap" race that took place yesterday. Included is a photo of race horse "Misremembered" and jockey Martin Garcia, who won the Grade I, $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap.
Things looking up as Santa Anita Park meet ends. 3 percent increase shown in both handle and attendance for its 78th winter meet. Photo of race horse Get Happy Mister and jockey Tyler Baze. By Art Wilson.
Trainer Bob Baffert had a brush with death last year, but is healthy now and will participate in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic. Race horse Paynter (shown in photo with Baffert) will run the $5 million classic at Santa Anita Park.
Santa Anita Park race event 2012 Sunshine Millions tomorrow. Horse named Caracortado is shown with jockey Paul Atkinson (from a 2010 Preakness Stakes photo).
Frank Stronach, chairman of MI Developments Inc. (MID), the owner of Santa Anita Park, will reveal a plan for Santa Anita Park on Wednesday to horse owners and trainers and he plans to address the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB). He did not discuss details but his plan aims to revitalize the ailing horse racing industry.
Santa Anita Park will undergo an inspection arranged by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) to evaluate its safety before the Oak Tree Racing Association's upcoming fall meet. Horse owners and trainers are concerned that the track may be unsafe due, in part, to the number of rocks embedded in the racetrack's surface, said Sherwood Chillingworth, executive vice president of Oak Tree.
The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) denied a license to Oak Tree Racing Association to run its fall meet at Santa Anita Park after representatives from the Thoroughbred Owners of California and the California Thoroughbred Trainers said they opposed having Oak Tree at Santa Anita Park due to safety concerns, saying they prefer Hollywood Park. Sherwood Chillingworth, executive vice president of Oak Tree, said he was moving forward to make arrangements to run the fall meet at Hollywood Park, but did not rule out the possibility that the board could change its mind.
If Oak Tree is not held at Santa Anita Park this fall, as it has for the last 41 years, it would be a significant hit to the city of Arcadia and the region, city officials said. Last year, the city of Arcadia made $185,000 from the Oak Tree meet's betting handle. In addition, the city would suffer the loss of tens of thousands of dollars in sales tax and hotel bed tax revenue. The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) denied Oak Tree Racing Association's request to run its five-week fall meet at Santa Anita Park after horse owners, trainers, and a racetrack expert expressed concerns about the synthetic surface. Oak Tree officials say they are moving forward to make arrangements to run the meet at Hollywood Park.
Breeders' Cup: a classic debate. Horse Bayern veers sharply out of the gate, goes wire to wire, and stays on top after inquiry into the start of the race. Bayern wins the Breeders' Cup Classic. Photos. See also p. B1 and B9 commentary on trainer D. Wayne Lukas and race horse Take Charge Brandi by columnist Mark Whicker. See also p. B8, 35-year-old trainer Chad Brown had a memorable weekend, having saddled 3 Breeders' Cup winners.
Santa Anita Park's synthetic track surface will be removed and a new $5 million plus dirt surface, closely resembling the ones at Churchill Downs, Gulfstream Park and the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga, will be installed. Ted Malloy is the racing surface consultant. He hopes to have the new track in by December 6.
Santa Anita Park owner Frank Stronach met with about a dozen horse trainers to discuss the track's racing surface. Stronach announced that he would not replace the synthetic Pro-Ride track yet, but will stick with it until he gets the ability to run the track with less state regulations. He wants free enterprise, which he may never get. In the meantime, drainage problems and injuries persist on the synthetic track. Stronach said he'd be back in April to discuss the issue more.
Santa Anita Park's current Pro-Ride synthetic track surface will be replaced with a dirt track after the Oak Tree meet ends October 31 and before Santa Anita Park's winter-spring season starts December 26, 2010. Frank Stronach said it will cost about $6 million to install.