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Santa Anita Stable Notes Saturday, March 2, 2024
3/2/2024
STABLE NOTES BY VICTOR RYAN SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2024
• SANTA ANITA HANDICAP RETURNS TO SUNDAY FOR 1ST TIME SINCE 1990 • NEW SYNTHETIC TRAINING TRACK OPENS FOR JOGGERS • SUNDAY’S COAST-TO-COAST PICK 5 FEATURES 3 GRADED STAKES • LAVA MAN AUTOGRAPH SESSION WITH NAKATANI, O’NEILL ON SUNDAY • FREE PARKING AND ADMISSION, DRINK SPECIALS OFFERED MONDAY
SANTA ANITA HANDICAP RETURNS TO SUNDAY FOR 1ST TIME SINCE 1990 Although the 87th running of the Grade I Santa Anita Handicap will now be run this Sunday instead of Saturday due to concerns over wet weather, it certainly is not the first time in its storied history that the Big Cap has fallen on the seventh day of the week.
In fact, one of the biggest days in Santa Anita history came on Sunday, March 3, 1985, when a record on-track crowd of 85,527 came out to see Bill Shoemaker and Charlie Whittingham combine to win the 48th Big Cap with Lord At War, who won by 1 ¾ lengths under 125 pounds, returning $7.00 to win. With Santa Anita’s spacious parking lots filled to capacity, traffic was so impossible on surface streets surrounding the track that many race-goers simply parked their vehicles in traffic lanes on Campus Drive—only to discover later they had been towed.
With the 1985 Big Cap Day pari-mutuel fires duly stoked by a double carryover in the $2 Pick Six, Santa Anita also established a single-day pari-mutuel record handle of $12,611,415 (all of it on-track).
With Sunday racing being legalized for the first time by the stroke of California Governor Ronald Reagan’s pen in 1973, the Big Cap was first run on a Sunday on March 10, 1974, as 52,797 fans watched trainer Pancho Martin and jockey Ron Turcotte combine for victory with 13-1 longshot Prince Dantan.
From there, the Big Cap would remain a Sunday staple until it was moved back to Saturday on March 9, 1991, in order to accommodate the short-lived American Championship Racing Series.
While accounts vary, a sampling of veteran racing officials in California recalled that one of the primary reasons for leaving the Big Cap on Saturday following the demise of the ACRS, was that in the early and mid-1990s, racing’s business model was embracing a shift to satellite wagering. With some racetracks and a number of brick and mortar satellite wagering locations closed on Sundays, the advent “big-day Saturdays” made increasingly good business sense.
And so, with a return to Sunday for the first time in 34 years, many racing observers will be charting all facets of what promises to be an unforgettable Big Cap Day on Sunday.
--Mike Willman
NEW SYNTHETIC TRAINING TRACK OPENS FOR JOGGERS
Under wet conditions Saturday, Santa Anita’s new $8-million synthetic training track opened for light training.
Horses entered to race Sunday and Monday at Santa Anita were permitted to jog clockwise around the track during a two-hour window beginning at 6 a.m. The
Former jockey Aaron Gryder, currently Senior Vice President of Racing for 1/ST, took the first test run of the new all-weather surface on Friday. He galloped a horse trained by Jeff Mullins, who historically is a frequent user of the training track.
“I was there when they put the new synthetic track at Gulfstream Park a couple years ago. It takes a little time for the material to completely settle at the top, but the base is very even. The horses got over it good,” Gryder observed. In addition, Gryder was particularly impressed by how it handled Saturday morning’s rain.
“It’s definitely doing its job today,” he said. “We had a couple of downpours and there is no standing water whatsoever. The drainage is working excellent.”
Like Mullins, trainer Phil D’Amato employs the training track heavily for his horses. He also had a horse gallop Friday over the new surface. On Saturday, all 11 horses he has entered this week went out and jogged.
“So far so good,” D’Amato said. “We galloped one yesterday to get a feel for it and I was very happy with it. This morning, all my riders said everything felt fine. It also drained very well from what I saw.”
Santa Anita’s new training track is from Tapeta Footings, which is also the manufacturer of the synthetic racing surfaces at Golden Gate and Woodbine among other locales. Installation at Santa Anita began in early November.
According to officials, a few minor details with the training track remain to be completed. As a result, training will remain limited to joggers until mid-March.
SUNDAY’S $1 COAST-TO-COAST PICK 5 FEATURES 3 GRADED STAKES The $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 returns Sunday beginning with the 10th race from Gulfstream Park at 1:36 p.m. PT.
The sequence also includes the 11th race from Gulfstream and three graded stakes from Santa Anita: the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile, GI Santa Anita Handicap and GII Buena Vista.
The Kilroe Mile goes as Santa Anita’s seventh race at approximately 3:32 p.m. The Big Cap goes as the eighth at 4:02. The sequence concludes at 5:02 p.m. with the Buena Vista for older fillies and mare at a mile on turf.
Sunday’s Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 averages 10.0 starters per race before scratches.
The Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 is offered every Saturday and Sunday through the end of Santa Anita’s Classic Meet April 7. The wager features a player-friendly 15 percent takeout rate.
FINISH LINES: The first 500 fans Sunday will receive a free Lava Man poster featuring his second consecutive Santa Anita Handicap win in 2007. Hall of Fame jockey Corey Nakatani and trainer Doug O’Neill will be at the East Paddock Gardens to sign the collector’s print from 11 a.m. to 11:45…Nakatani will present the Big Cap trophy… Live racing Monday features a nine-race program starting at 12:30 p.m. PT. On-track fans will receive free parking and admission plus $3 beers and $5 margaritas…Daily Racing Form handicapper/reporter Brad Free will be host Tom Quigley’s handicapping guest Sunday on the Santa Anita simulcast feed starting at 11:20 a.m. PT.