Santa Anita Park will soon have a new president in Tom Ludt, the former chairman of the Breeders' Cup, after longtime executive George Haines was selected to head Southern California's offtrack wagering facility network.
Concerned that the racing industry is no closer to resolving issues surrounding the closure of Hollywood Park next year, the California Horse Racing Board July 18 put off approval of racing dates in 2014-15 for a month.
Horsemen in California are pushing ahead with plans to make Los Alamitos Race Course and San Luis Rey Downs full-time off-track stabling sites once Betfair Hollywood Park is no longer available.
Santa Anita Park has announced it will be closed for training throughout the upcoming Del Mar race meet, from July 17 to Sept. 4, in order to accommodate renovation projects in both the stable area and grandstand.
Jack Disney, longtime sportswriter for the defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner and publicist at two major Southern California racetracks, will be honored Jan. 27 at Santa Anita Park.
The new 20% on-track Pick Six bonus at Santa Anita Park rewarded three bettors Jan. 6. They will each bag $8,776.20 thanks to the track bonus rather than $7,313.20, which is what nine other winning tickets paid.
Mark Verge, hired to oversee Santa Anita Park as chief executive officer in March, has stepped down.
Santa Anita Park will provide its fans both on-track and around the world a high-definition, digital simulcast television presentation beginning with the opening of the 2012 Autumn Meet Sept. 28.
The Breeders' Cup announced Sept. 17 that advance ticket sales for the Nov. 2-3 World Championships at Santa Anita Park have outpaced 2008 and 2009, but that a limited number of reserved seats remain.
Zenyatta, winner of the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) and Horse of the Year in 2010, will be remembered for all-time by Santa Anita Park when the track unveils a life-sized statue of the great mare Sept. 29.
Satisfied with its performance so far, Santa Anita Park announced Feb. 22 that it had received permission from the California Horse Racing Board to not add Wednesdays to its current live race schedule during March and April.
Santa Anita Park, which opened its winter/spring meeting with an on-track crowd of 44,579 on Dec. 26, posted a 21% increase in attendance and an 11% uptick in on-track handle through the first six days of its 79-day meet.
A crowd of 44,579 thronged to Santa Anita for its opening-day card Dec. 26, the largest since 1994.
Longtime Santa Anita paddock guard John Shear, who was seriously injured while protecting a young girl from a loose horse on March 12, said Dec. 22 he would be back in action on opening day.
The California Horse Racing Board agreed Dec. 15 to extend the license of account wagering firm TwinSpires.com after receiving assurance that parent company Churchill Downs Inc. would meet with the Jockeys' Guild.
HRTV has reached an agreement with independent broadcaster KVMD of Los Angeles giving Southern California racing fans television access to the upcoming Santa Anita winter/spring race meeting.
Training and simulcasting resumed at Santa Anita as power was restored Dec. 2 after a severe windstorm hit the area Wednesday. No injuries to humans or horses were sustained.
Santa Anita Park posted gains across the board during the recently concluded 24-day fall meet, led by an 8.7% jump in all-sources handle when compared to the corresponding days in 2009.
Santa Anita Park will offer California's newest exotic wager, the 50-cent Players' Pick Five, at the 2011 autumn meet that begins Sept. 30, the track announced.
Oct. 1 race to be named for paddock guard John Shear, who shielded 6-year-old girl from runaway horse at Santa Anita March 12.
The presidents of Santa Anita and Hollywood Park have asked the Thoroughbred Owners of California to reduce takout on Daily Double, exacta, quinella, and Pick 5 wagers.
Santa Anita will race its first autumn meeting under the direction of the Los Angeles Turf Club when it opens for racing Sept. 30.
Santa Anita's track president told the California Horse Racing Board that he hoped to have the track open for training by July 26.
Santa Anita plans to renovate its main track next month, adding sand to the composition during a remediation that is expected to last no longer than two weeks.
A decline in average daily handle ontrack and overall was caused by a low horse inventory. Average ontrack attendance remained steady with 2010 for the winter/spring meet.
John Shear, Santa Anita's 90-year-old paddock guard who was gravely injured while protecting a 6-year-old girl from a runaway horse last month, was released from Huntington Memorial Hospital.
Santa Anita Park will return to a four-day race week beginning March 31, and will operate on a Thursday through Sunday schedule for the remainder of its winter/spring meeting which concludes April 17.
Santa Anita will move to an expanded five-day race week beginning with the Wednesday card March 23. Racing will be conducted on a five-day-per-week basis through the end of the meet April 17.
Santa Anita's track maintenance team plans to adjust the composition of the main track Jan. 18 to bring it back to the mix of sand, clay, and silt that it was before the region received several rainstorms in late December.
With a new track surface in place, Santa Anita Park opened the doors for its 74th winter/spring meet Dec. 26 with 34,268 fans in attendance for a nine-race program that included four stakes.
Santa Anita's new traditional dirt track received its initial baptism of record rainfall that is ongoing in the Los Angeles area and has weathered the storm well as opening day, Sunday, Dec. 26, draws near.
Santa Anita opened its new dirt track to horses the morning of Dec. 6. With most horses still stabled across town at Hollywood Park, few horses galloped on the new surface, which is a mixture of 90% sand and 10% clay.
Santa Anita Park will begin training on its new, all-natural dirt main track on Monday, Dec. 6 in advance of its traditional opener on Dec. 26.
Removal of Santa Anita's synthetic surface began Oct. 11 as the first step in replacing it with a dirt surface. Track officials are close to deciding the mix of materials to be used as the surface material.
While track officials and horsemen make their final decisions on the composition of Santa Anita's new dirt racing surface, crews are to begin removal of the existing Pro-Ride synthetic material Oct. 11.
Amid concerns about track safety, horsemen representatives and Santa Anita management met the morning of Aug. 6 to discuss progress on renovation of the Pro-Ride synthetic racing surface that began July 26.
Hollywood Park plans to race through the 2011 calendar year, track president Jack Liebau said.
Santa Anita Park began repair work on its synthetic main track on July 26 and embarked upon significant scheduled maintenance of its stable area as well.
Thoroughbred racing in California remained uncertain about the future following a state horse racing board meeting July 22 in which major track owner MI Developments refused once again to provide a glimpse of its plans.
As was announced May 20 by MI Developments, longtime Santa Anita Park general manager George Haines has been named interim president of the track and will oversee all of MID's California racing operations.
The California Horse Racing Board got an opportunity to address recent actions of the state's newest track owner, MI Developments, at its May 20 meeting.
Santa Anita has canceled its live program for Feb. 27 after heavy overnight rain hit the Arcadia track.
For the second straight day, Santa Anita Park officials canceled racing Jan. 6 due to concerns about the condition of the synthetic racing surface after recent heavy rainfall.
Santa Anita canceled racing Jan. 5, because the new Cushion Track is not draining properly. The track did an extensive renovation last month that was supposed to fix this problem. Five inches of rain have fallen, according to officials. More is expected tonight and could affect racing for the entire weekend.
Horses are expected to return to training on the main Santa Anita Park racing surface Dec. 22 following a renovation of the Cushion Track to fix a drainage problem.
Rain has further delayed renovation of the Cushion Track at Santa Anita Park.
The winner of Sunday's San Juan Capistrano Invitational Handicap (gr. IIT) at Santa Anita will receive an automatic invitation to compete in this year's Emirates Melbourne Cup (Aus-I), according to a strategic partnership announced Thursday by Santa Anita and the Victoria Racing Club.
An upscale mall to be constructed in Santa Anita's main parking lot took a step forward April 17 when the Arcadia City Council unanimously approved the project. The meeting lasted six hours before the council adjourned and then returned for another hour later in the day.
Jockey Chris McCarron will take his place among three other legendary riders at Santa Anita when a bust of his likeness is unveiled Saturday.
All horses trained by Mike Mitchell will undergo 24 hour surveillance before racing after one of his horses tested positive for an excessive amount of TC02, which is the total carbon dioxide in plasma from a blood sample obtained pre-race.
