Santa Anita
🇺🇸 CALIFORNIA
Racing at Santa Anita
Address
285 Huntington Dr, Arcadia, CA 91007, USA
Contact
info@santaanita.com
Racing Dates
Live racing gets going at Santa Anita at Christmas time and runs right through to June with over 15 days of live racing planned each month. Post time is usually 12.30PM with many stakes races scheduled in.
About Santa Anita
Located in Arcadia, California around six miles from Pasadena and 16 from downtown LA, Santa Anita Park hosts top class thoroughbred horse racing in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains.Santa Anita has many Grade 1 and Grade 2 races and has hosted the Breeders’ Cup eight times, most recently in 2016 when Arrogate won a thrilling renewal of the Breeders’ Cup Classic against strong favorite California Chrome in the finale.
The Park encompasses more than 320 acres of land and features a 26,000-capacity grandstand which is over 1,000 feet long. Given its popularity, the infield is open to race goers dramatically increasing the capacity on race day.
On its record day back in 1993, Santa Anita Park announced a handle of $36,264,799 on a single day which contributed to the billions wagered at the track since its opening.
Santa Anita History
Santa Anita Park started life as part of Rancho Santa Anita, something which was bought by Scotsman Hugo Reid and later acquired by breeder Lucky Baldwin who built a race track by what is now modern day Arcadia. The original facility opened in 1904, closed in 1909 and even burned down in 1912.Once horse racing was allowed again in the state and pari-mutuel betting was legalized in 1933, several working groups came together to form the Los Angeles Turf Club who opened the present track on Christmas Day 1934.
The first Santa Anita Handicap, already worth $100,000, was run in 1935 and over the years people of the caliber of Carry Grant and Bing Crosby became shareholders in the track.
The amazing Seabiscuit was a visitor at the track and won the Santa Anita Handicap on his final career start, just before racing was suspended due to World War II.
Santa Anita went from strength to strength through the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and hosted equestrian events at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Having hosted 8 Breeders’ Cup Championships as well as numerous Santa Anita Derby winners having gone on to land the Kentucky Derby, the track remains one of the premier race courses anywhere in the world.
Santa Anita Track Details
The main track is a one-mile dirt oval which has a large, 9/10 of a mile turf track to the inside. A key feature at Santa Anita is its extra hillside turf track to the north-west of the main track, crossing over the dirt and meeting the main turf track. It is used for races of around 6½ furlongs in distance.
Biggest Races
Many big races are staged at Santa Anita with information on our blog given in the lead-up, something you can find here. Just a few of the big race highlights at Santa Anita are:Santa Anita Derby (Grade 1) – 3yo, 9 furlongs ($1,000,000) Santa Anita Handicap (Grade 1) – 4yo+, 10 furlongs ($600,000) Santa Anita Oaks (Grade 1) – 3yo fillies, 8½ furlongs ($400,000) Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (Grade 1) – 4yo+ fillies & mares, 9 furlongs ($500,000) FrontRunner Stakes (Grade 1) – 2yo, 8½ furlongs ($300,000) American Oaks (Grade 1) – 3yo fillies, 10 furlongs ($300,000)