With its traditional Winter Meet opener looming Dec. 26, Santa Anita Park announced a first-ever "Ship and Stay" program that is intended to attract out-of-state horsemen and to incentivize them to keep running in California throughout the new year.
Funded solely by Santa Anita and The Stronach Group, the "Ship and Stay" program is patterned after Del Mar's successful "Ship and Win" program and provides on-going bonuses to individual trainers and owners who bring horses to Santa Anita from out of state. Bonuses will be paid to the connections who originally brought them to California for their first three starts. These bonuses will be paid even if the horse is claimed.
"This is a new day for us here at Santa Anita on several fronts," said Santa Anita vice president of racing Rick Hammerle. "Field size is a major concern for us and by undertaking this new program, we're hoping to be able to shore up our inventory at all levels."
Rules of Eligibility:
- All eligible horses must register in the Santa Anita racing office;
- Available to horses that have last started outside of California and have not raced in California over the past 12 months;
- "Ship & Stay" will provide a 20% purse bonus for a horse's first start at Santa Anita, divided between owner and trainer. (Does not include Cal-bred bonus);
- A 10% purse bonus, or $1,000, whichever is higher, will be provided for each individual horse's second and third start. This will be divided between the original owner and trainer who brought the horse to California.
For a complete list of rules and conditions of eligibility on the "Ship & Stay" program, please contact the Santa Anita racing office at (626) 574-6352.
