Dennis Moore, the track superintendent at Santa Anita Park, said it is "pretty definitive" the Southern California racetrack will get overnight rain, and "if it rains, I hope it rains hard."
Moore, sitting in his small office located above Clocker's Corner at the end of the Santa Anita grandstand, said the maintenance crew will seal (pack down the surface using roller equipment) the track so the water is more inclined to run off and not saturate the surface if the rainfall is hard.
"If it rains hard, you have a better chance of having a fast track early," he said.
Post time for the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup World Championships second day is 10:15 a.m. PDT.
The latest forecast is calling for a quarter- to a half-inch of rain, Moore said. "Being where we are, up against the (San Grabiel) mountains, it is usually at the high end of that (estimate), if not more."
The track superintendent said the latest model is for the precipitation to arrive around 11 p.m. the evening of Oct. 31, "so the heavier stuff will be out of here by 4 a.m., with some light stuff until 8 a.m."
