Memorial Day the highlight of Santa Anita spring-summer stakes schedule
ARCADIA, Calif. – Led by a Memorial Day program with three Grade 1 races worth $500,000 each, Santa Anita has scheduled 34 stakes for its spring-summer meeting from April 12 to June 23.
This will be the richest Memorial Day program since Santa Anita inherited the spring-summer meeting from Hollywood Park in 2014. The $500,000 races are the Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf, the Shoemaker Mile on turf, and the Gold Cup at Santa Anita at 1 1/4 miles on the main track.
The Gamely Stakes purse has been increased $200,000, while the Shoemaker Mile is worth $100,000 more than in 2018. The races will offer the winners a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and BC Mile, which will be run here Nov. 2, officials said.
There are several other changes to the 11-week meeting. Two Grade 1 races from 2018 are Grade 2 races this year and have been moved from March into the spring. Their purses have been halved to $200,000 – the Santa Margarita Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on April 27 and the Triple Bend Stakes at seven furlongs on May 25.
The Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles will be worth $150,000, $50,000 less than last year. The Cinema Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf is worth $150,000, $50,000 more than in 2018, when the race was known as the Rainbow Stakes.
The season ends with six stakes over two days on June 22-23, including the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes at about 1 3/4 miles on closing day.
