Field size up at Santa Anita autumn meeting

ARCADIA, Calif. – Average field size has shown growth at the Santa Anita autumn meeting, months after the track canceled four days of racing in the spring because of insufficient entries.

Through Sunday, the 11th day of the 19-day meeting, fields averaged 8.87 starters per race compared with 8.62 starters during a similar period at the 2016 autumn meeting. Fields averaged 8.59 runners for the entire 2016 meeting, which included the Breeders’ Cup races.

This year, the meeting ends on Oct. 29 and does not include the Breeders’ Cup races, which will be held at Del Mar on Nov. 3-4.

Rick Hammerle, Santa Anita’s vice-president of racing, said in an interview last weekend that one factor leading to larger fields this month has been increased entries from trainers who want to maintain stalls at Santa Anita on a year-round basis.

“The stalls back there mean something,” Hammerle said. “I think it’s becoming more urgent.”

During the spring-summer meeting, Santa Anita canceled four Thursdays in April and June because of insufficient entries. The track reverted to a three-day racing calendar for three weeks in June and saw an increase in field size during that span.

This week, there were 67 horses entered in eight races for Thursday (excluding four on the also-eligible list in the fifth race), and 65 horses entered in eight races for Friday.

There are nine-race programs scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. There are four days of racing from Oct. 26-29 to close the meeting.

“We hope to finish strong,” Hammerle said.