Chris Merz returning to Santa Anita racing office

ARCADIA, Calif. – Chris Merz, the racing secretary at Laurel and Pimlico since the summer of 2018, is rejoining the Santa Anita racing office as director of racing.

Merz, who worked at Santa Anita as stakes coordinator as recently as the spring of 2018, will begin Saturday and will assist racing secretary Steve Lym.

Sunday, Lym said Merz’s primary responsibility will be to compile entries on a daily basis and assist him with the writing of condition books that detail proposed races several weeks in advance.

Merz, 29, arrives at Santa Anita at a time the track has struggled to draw horses at the current winter-spring meeting. This week, Santa Anita is racing on a Friday-through-Monday schedule to include a program for President’s Day.

For the most part, Santa Anita has raced three days a week this year.

Racing on Feb. 6 and this Thursday was eliminated. In coming weeks, the track has eliminated Thursday racing on Feb. 27, and March 5 and 12 because of concern over field sizes, Lym said on Sunday.

The Southern California racing circuit has experienced a decline in race-ready horses in the last year because of stricter training and medication rules following a series of equine fatalities at Santa Anita last winter. The track is also facing competition for dirt horses from Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, which has a higher purse structure.

Through Sunday, fields have averaged 7.38 runners per race through the first 23 days of the season. During a similar period last year, the track had run 29 days and averaged 7.55 runners per race.

Last year, the California Horse Racing Board instructed Santa Anita to eliminate 12 days of racing during the current winter-spring meeting from Dec. 26 to June 21 for reasons such as poor weather or to manage the horse population. For the most part, there have been dry conditions at the current meeting.

The track canceled racing on Dec. 26-27 because of excessive rain. With the five canceled Thursdays from Feb. 6 through March 12, Santa Anita will have eliminated seven days.