Santa Anita will run sprints at about 6 1/2 furlongs on its hillside turf course this fall for the first time since March 2019, the track announced Wednesday. The course will be used for four stakes, including the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes on the Oct. 1 opening-day program, and for a limited number of allowance races. Santa Anita ceased running turf sprints on the hillside course in the spring of 2019 following a series of racing fatalities that drew widespread attention, including a two-horse spill in the San Simeon Stakes on the hillside course in March of that year that resulted in a fatality. Days later, track officials announced that turf sprints would be run only at five furlongs on the turf oval. Turf sprints on the hillside course cross over the main track before continuing on the turf course. :: Bet the races with confidence on DRF Bets. You're one click away from the only top-rated betting platform fully integrated with exclusive data, analysis, and expert picks. Track officials made adjustments to the turf course to allow sprints after it stopped running them on the hillside course. In the summer of 2019, the track made minor modifications to the backstretch of the turf oval to accommodate the start of races at 5 1/2 furlongs beginning with that autumn’s meeting. Those races started on the main track for a few strides, and some runners struggled with footing before they reached the turf course. Last fall, the track constructed a backstretch turf chute, adjacent to the seven-furlong chute of the dirt track, that allowed for turf sprints at six and 6 1/2 furlongs. At those distances, runners started in the chute and crossed over the first turn of the dirt course before joining the backstretch of the turf oval about 5 1/2 furlongs from the finish. The turf course was used extensively for sprints during the six-month meet, from late December to late June. Of 703 races at the meeting, 336 were on turf and 145 were run at six or 6 1/2 furlongs. The hillside portion of the turf course was used only for the start of races at 1 1/4 miles or farther.  This fall, the track will have the opportunity to run turf sprints on the hillside course and from the backstretch turf chute. The hillside turf course is unique in American racing. Sprints start at the top of a hill. Runners proceed down the course and make a slight right-hand turn before a sweeping left-hand turn that leads over the turn of the main track and onto the stretch portion of the turf course. At the 2017-2018 winter-spring meeting, the most recent complete year of racing that included use of turf sprints on the hillside course, there were 144 turf sprints on the hillside, or 15.8 percent of the 908 total races run. However, hillside races have been susceptible to weather for decades. Wet conditions have led to hillside races often transferred to the main track out of concern over footing at the brief crossing of the dirt track. The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint was run on the hillside course five times from 2008 to 2016. In 2019, the most recent year Santa Anita hosted the Breeders’ Cup races, the Turf Sprint was run at five furlongs on turf. The $200,000 Eddie D Stakes, a prep for the BC Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 6, will be the richest race on the hillside course this fall. At the upcoming autumn meeting, which runs from Oct. 1-31, the $75,000 Unzip Me Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Oct. 2, the $100,000 California Distaff Handicap for statebred fillies and mares on Oct. 16, and the $100,000 California Flag Handicap for statebreds on Oct. 17 will be run at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside course.