Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California. It is known for offering some of the best racing in the United States during the autumn and in winter. It is the home of the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap.
History
Santa Anita Park was opened on December 25, 1934 and is the oldest and most prestigious racetrack in Southern California. Gold prospector Lucky Baldwin initially founded a racetrack on the present site in Arcadia outside of Los Angeles. In 1933, California legalized parimutuel wagering and the Los Angeles Turf Club reopened the track on Christmas Day in 1934. In February of 1935, the first Santa Anita Handicap was run. The race's $100,000 purse, the largest of any race ever up until that time, produced its nickname the Big 'Cap.
In 1940, Seabiscuit won the Santa Anita Handicap in his last start. Two years later, in 1942, racing at Santa Anita was suspended due to the Second World War. From 1942 to 1945, Santa Anita was used as an internment camp for Japanese-Americans. After the track reopened in 1945, the track went through the postwar years with prosperity. A downhill turf course that added a distinctly European flair to racing at Santa Anita was added in 1953.
61,123 people showed up for the 1958 Santa Anita Derby, making the attendance that day a record crowd. They'd come to watch Silky Sullivan come from 28 lengths off the pace and win—going away.
The 1960s brought about a major renovation of Santa Anita Park, including a much-expanded grandstand as well as major seating additions. In 1968, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club relinquished its dates to an autumn meeting. A group of horsemen including Clement Hirsch intervened and established the not-for-profit Oak Tree Racing Association. Oak Tree had no facilities of its own and rented Santa Anita Park for an autumn meeting in 1969.
Oak Tree has since become an autumn fixture at Santa Anita Park. Many key stakes races are held during the meeting, including many preps to the Breeders' Cup races. Oak Tree has been given the privilege of holding the Breeders' Cup itself on three occasions, in 1986, 1993, and 2003.
Prosperity continued at Santa Anita throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. In 1984, Santa Anita was the site of equestrian events at the 1984 Olympics. The following year, the track set an attendance record of 85,527 people on Santa Anita Handicap Day.
In 1997, Santa Anita Park was purchased by Meditrust. Meditrust in turn sold the track to Magna Entertainment Corp. Magna still owns Santa Anita Park. In 2006, Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita cohosted the Sunshine Millions,  a day of competition in stakes between horses bred in Florida and those bred in California. Gulfstream and Santa Anita are generally recognized as the top winter tracks, especially with the absence of Fair Grounds Race Course due to Hurricane Katrina.
Due to its proximity to Los Angeles, Santa Anita has traditionally been associated with the film and television industries. The Marx Brothers classic A Day at the Races was filmed there, and many stars, including Bing Crosby, Spencer Tracy, Errol Flynn, Alex Trebek, and MGM mogul, Louis B. Mayer, have owned horses that raced there.
The track boasts statues of both Seabiscuit and George Woolf, hailed as the best jockey of his generation, who owned the nearby Derby Arcadia restaurant. Since 1950, Santa Anita Park has annually presented the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award to a rider who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack.
South African native Trevor Denman has served as the track announcer at Santa Anita since 1983.
Physical attributes
Santa Anita has a one-mile dirt main track and a seven-furlong oval turf course. Its unusual hillside turf course crosses the dirt for six-and-a-half-furlong turf races. This type of track is one of the only ones in America.
Santa Anita occupies 320 acres. It has a 1,100-foot-long grandstand, which is a historic landmark that seats 26,000 guests. The grandstand is done in an Art Deco style and is the original facade from the 1930s.
The track infield area, which resembles a park with picnic tables and large trees, can accommodate 50,000 or more guests. The Park also contains 61 barns, which house more than 2,000 horses, and an equine hospital.
Racing
Santa Anita Park holds two meetings, the Oak Tree Racing Association Meeting from mid-September until early November, and the Santa Anita Meeting from late December to mid-April. During these meets the track hosts thirteen Grade I stakes. They are
 Ancient Title Breeders' Cup Handicap
Clement L. Hirsch Memorial Turf Championship Stakes
Frank E. Kilroe Mile Handicap
La Brea Stakes
Las Virgenes Stakes
Malibu Stakes
Santa Anita Derby
Santa Anita Handicap
Santa Anita Oaks
Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap
Santa Maria Handicap
Santa Monica Handicap
Yellow Ribbon Stakes
Grade Two races held during the meets are:
Arcadia Handicap
Buena Vista Handicap
El Encino Stakes
Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap
La Canada Stakes
Lady's Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap
Las Palmas Handicap
Norfolk Stakes
Oak Leaf Stakes
Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile Stakes
Oak Tree Derby
Palos Verdes Handicap
Potrero Grande Breeders' Cup Handicap
San Antonio Handicap
San Carlos Handicap
San Felipe Stakes
San Fernando Breeders' Cup Stakes
San Gabriel Handicap
San Gorgonio Handicap
San Juan Capistrano Invitational Handicap
San Luis Obispo Handicap
San Luis Rey Handicap
San Marcos Stakes
San Pasqual Handicap
San Rafael Stakes
San Vicente Stakes
Santa Ana Handicap
Santa Barbara Handicap
Santa Catalina Stakes
Santa Ynez Stakes
Strub Stakes
The track is also the host of twelve Grade Three races. They are:
Baldwin Stakes
Carleton F. Burke Handicap
El Conejo Handicap
Las Cienegas Handicap
Las Flores Handicap
Monrovia Handicap
Morvich Handicap
Providencia Stakes
San Bernardino Handicap
San Simeon Handicap
Santa Ysabel Stakes
Senator Ken Maddy Handicap
External links
Santa Anita Park Official Website
National Trust for Historic Preservation: Santa Anita Racetrack
References
Santa Anita Park Official Website
Oak Tree Racing Association Official Website
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