First day back at Santa Anita is a safe one

ARCADIA, Calif. – With new guidelines in place designed to enhance safety, racing returned to Santa Anita on Friday for the first time since March 3 with the completion of an eight-race program.

The races were run safely to the relief of track officials and participants who were eager to resume racing after a series of equine fatalities since late December that led to the cancellation of 13 racing days for most of March.

In early March, the main track underwent inspection and renovation after months of higher-than-normal rainfall. When training resumed on the main track on March 11, new measures were put in place, including greater scrutiny of horses undergoing workouts.

Several policy changes were put in place before Friday’s resumption of racing, notably a 50 percent reduction in the permissible race-day dosage of the anti-bleeding medication Lasix to 5cc, the suspension of authorized thresholds for legal therapeutic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, an increase in out-of-competition testing, and the transparency of veterinary records when horses switch stables.

“It’s a new method of how we do business,” Tim Ritvo, the chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, the track’s parent company, said after Friday’s program.

“We have to do what we can to protect the interest of the horses. All the procedures are in place.”

In other ways, the track has taken a more proactive stance on which horses are allowed to undergo morning workouts and be entered in races. Trainers are required to submit requests to work horses 48 hours in advance so officials can review race records and runners can undergo veterinary checks, if deemed necessary.

Horses entered to race will have their race records extensively studied by veterinarians and racing officials and some could be subject to enhanced veterinary examination in addition to race-day checks already in place.

There is a longstanding policy in the state for the track’s official veterinarian and veterinarians assigned by the racing board to physically inspect all runners on race days.

Other policies are months from implementation. Earlier this month, the track announced a plan to severely restrict the use of whips in races, but did not enact a new policy after discussions with the Jockeys' Guild.

The California Horse Racing Board approved a new rule on Thursday that will essentially prevent riders from using whips in races, but the process required to implement the rule takes several months and is not expected to be enacted until the second half of the year.

In the interim, jockeys can use their whips under the existing rules that allow three strikes and then a pause to allow a horse to respond to urging.

Ritvo said track officials are aware of the public’s concern for horse safety and that some people would like to see racing cease. He said racing must increase efforts to educate the greater public.

“We’re looking more at the outside public and listening to what they’re concerned about,” Ritvo said. “We need to do a good job getting into the outside bubble and tell people that we love and care for the horses.”

The current season runs until June 23. There are two three-day weeks from April 12-14 and 19-21, Fridays-through-Sundays. Ritvo said there is a possibility programs could be added on the Thursdays of those weeks to make up for the recent lost racing days.

“We haven’t made a decision,” Ritvo said. “We could look at those Thursdays if the horse population is good.”

Friday’s card drew attendance of 5,331, considerably higher than 4,003 on the corresponding Friday in 2018. The all-sources handle on Friday’s program was $6,476,118, lower than the handle of $7,907,414 on a nine-race program on the final Friday of March in 2018.