Press Releases

ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 25, 2010) – A winner of six straight races on turf including the Grade I Hollywood Derby and Grade II Oak Tree Derby, The Usual Q. T. will attempt to transfer his run of perfection to Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride surface on Saturday when confronted with no easy task in the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Classic presented by Pepsi Cola, centerpiece of the unique bi-coastal competition between California and Florida-breds.

California-bred The Usual Q. T. is the most compelling competitor among eleven entrants in the eighth running of the mile-and-one-eighth Classic, one of three Sunshine Millions events to be contested at Santa Anita with three others, including the $300,000 Turf, to be contested at Gulfstream Park.

ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 24, 2010) – Blocked behind horses in midstretch, Garrett Gomez managed to propel Loup Breton to the outside and the 3-5 favorite overpowered High Court Drama Sunday to win Santa Anita’s Grade II, $150,000 San Marcos Stakes by one-half length while running the 1 ¼ miles over a turf course termed “good” in 2:00.94.

It was the second victory in three starts in the United States for the 6-year-old Irish-bred who had come up a neck short in the Grade II San Gabriel Handicap over 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita one month previous.

For an instant or two, Gomez wondered if he might find a measure of smooth sailing, but once he broke through, Loup Breton methodically wore down High Court Drama, who had spurted to a nearly two-length advantage under Michael Baze.

ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 21, 2010)—Live racing for Friday at Santa Anita has been cancelled due to continued wet conditions, but officials are optimistic that with a dry forecast in store for the weekend, racing will resume on Saturday.

“We’re told that the heavy rain is supposed to be clear of us by about noon tomorrow,” said Santa Anita President Ron Charles. “The weather outlook for the weekend is favorable and we are optimistic that if the forecast holds, we’re going to be able to run Saturday and Sunday. As we’ve said, safety is our number one priority and we’ll continue to make all decisions based upon that.

ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 18, 2010)—Live racing has been cancelled for Monday at Santa Anita due to wet track conditions and the certainty of continued heavy rain throughout the afternoon.

After consulting with jockeys, horsemen and Track Superintendent Richard Tedesco, the decision to cancel live racing was made at 11:45 a.m. “We were very much hoping to be able to race today,” said Santa Anita President Ron Charles. “Safety is always our number one priority and unfortunately, we’ve already been hit with quite a bit of rain.