Santa Anita Park has announced a 28-event stakes schedule worth over $4 million in purses for its 24-day Autumn Meet that begins Sept. 28. The meet will be keynoted by six grade I "Win and You’re In" Breeders’ Cup prep stakes, five of which will be run Saturday, Sept. 29, with the remaining grade I event to be run Saturday, Oct. 6.
The meet will reach a crescendo with the two-day, $25.5 million Breeders’ Cup World Championships Nov. 2-3, and will conclude the following day.
Santa Anita’s Autumn stakes lineup features a total of 13 graded stakes beginning with the inaugural Eddie D Stakes (gr. IIIT) Sept. 28. The Eddie D is one of 13 Breeders’ Cup prep races and is for 3-year-olds and up at 6 1/2 furlongs. The race will serve as a steppingstone to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT) Nov. 2.
The meet also will feature two new stakes for 2-year-olds competing on grass, the Zuma Beach (colts and geldings) and the Surfer Girl (fillies), both at a mile, to be run on Columbus Day, Monday, Oct. 8.
Santa Anita will offer a pair of stakes on the weekend of Oct. 6-7, the Tim Conway and the L.A. Woman, which have received purse increases from $65,000 to $100,000 each. The Conway is for 2-year-olds at six furlongs and the L.A. Woman is for fillies and mares 3-and-up at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Week three will be highlighted by the 23rd annual California Cup, a series of races restricted to horses bred or foaled in California, to be run Saturday, Oct. 13. Total purses for the afternoon will exceed $1 million.
Aside from Columbus Day, Santa Anita will run on a Thursday through Sunday schedule. First post time each day is 1 p.m., except Breeders’ Cup Friday, Nov. 2, when first post is 11:15 a.m., and Breeders’ Cup Saturday, Nov. 3, when the first live race will go at 10:05 a.m.
The 29th annual Breeders’ Cup will be conducted for the sixth time at Santa Anita. Fans are encouraged to visit www.santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.