SANTA ANITA PARK’S 90TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON OPENS NEXT THURSDAY, DEC. 26 WITH WORLD-CLASS RACING, TRADITIONAL WALL CALENDAR GIVEAWAY, CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL, FAMILY FUN ZONE AND MUCH MORE

ARCADIA, CA (Dec. 18, 2024)— Santa Anita Park will be the place to be next Thursday, Dec. 26 when the iconic racetrack opens for its 90th year of world-class Thoroughbred racing and entertainment.

Opening Day at The Great Race Place will feature an array of equine stars, including reigning Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, competing in six graded stakes, a wall calendar giveaway featuring the 13 greatest moments in Santa Anita history, a craft beer festival, Family Fun Zone in the infield, trackside dining and a whiskey tasting in Santa Anita’s opulent Chandelier Room.

Ticket packages for all the Opening Day festivities are now available for purchase at santaanita.com.

For general admission, tickets are just $10 when purchased online. Walk-up general admission is $20. Note that members of Santa Anita’s 1/ST Rewards program can purchase general admission tickets for just $5 with their loyalty cards at the Infield Admission gate on opening day.

Most of the dining packages and reserved seats are expected to sell out. Guests can explore and choose ticket packages at santaanita.com/events.

Santa Anita will also host a live-money handicapping tournament opening day, the $1,500 Opening Day Challenge. In addition to the regular prize money, participants who compete on track will be eligible to receive a $5,000 on-track bonus.

First post time opening day is 11 a.m. PT with admission gates set to open at 9 a.m.

As for the action on the track, Mystik Dan will be the first reigning Kentucky Derby winner to race at the subsequent Santa Anita winter-spring meets since the hugely popular California Chrome did in 2015. Mystik Dan, who won the 150th Kentucky Derby in May, will be featured in the 77th edition of the Grade I, $300,000 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs. He is expected to arrive at Santa Anita from his winter base at Fair Grounds in New Orleans later this week.

Set to support the Malibu on opening day are the Grade I La Brea Stakes, Grade I American Oaks, Grade II San Gabriel Stakes, Grade II Mathis Mile and the GII Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes, formerly the San Antonio Stakes, which this year was renamed in honor of the legendary Hall of Fame jockey.

Opening day will also mark the start of Santa Anita’s popular free-to-play online contest, ShowVivor, which offers contestants $10,000 in total prize money.

For more information on what promises to be a blockbuster opening day at Santa Anita, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.