Few entries results in eight-race card

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita will have eight races Sunday, one fewer than usual after a slow morning of entries Thursday.

Sunday’s eight races drew 64 entries before scratches. There are two six-horse fields and two seven-horse fields in the first four races.

Racing secretary Rick Hammerle said one reason for the dearth of entries is that some local horses have headed to Churchill Downs for races on Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby days, May 1-2.

“There are a lot of horses out of town, a lot of trainers out of town, and a lot of jockeys out of town,” he said.

Hammerle said the track is planning a nine-race program on May 1 and an 11-race program on May 2 to coincide with simulcasts of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby.

At the winter-spring meeting that concluded April 19, fields averaged 8.36 runners per race compared to 7.76 runners per race at the corresponding meeting in 2013-14.

The track’s spring-summer meeting began Friday. The 2014 spring-summer meeting averaged 7.71 runners per race.