New racing secretary Lym getting acclimated
ARCADIA, Calif. – Steve Lym was in his position as racing secretary at Santa Anita for about a day last weekend when the Toronto transplant experienced a Southern California winter storm – a Saturday with about an inch of rain.
Bad weather in California in January has a different meaning than what Lym was used to in southern Ontario, where he held a similar position at Woodbine. Lym was named racing secretary at Santa Anita last month following the dismissal of Rick Hammerle.
Lym, 50, oversaw his first days of entries last weekend, compiling programs for Thursday and Friday. Lym has worked his entire adult life at Woodbine, rising from a horse identifier for clockers on the backstretch to racing secretary.
Sunday, as entries were being compiled for Friday, Lym was introducing himself to trainers and learning the nuances of the racing department.
Lym said he has long-term goals in his new position, notably trying to increase field sizes, a pet project of Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, the track’s parent company.
“I have ideas that I want to do,” Lym said. “I’d like to improve field size. How do we do that? I have to understand the culture. We’ll keep an eye on [horse] inventory.
“If we can get bigger fields and can increase income and revenue, it will be better for everyone.”
Through Sunday, the 13th day of the meeting, the track has averaged 8.02 runners per race and has run an additional race on several programs compared with the start of the 2017-18 season. Through the corresponding period at the start of the 2017-18 meeting, a span of 12 days of racing through the second Sunday of January, the track averaged 9.01 runners per race.
The stakes schedule through June 23 has been published. The first stakes schedule with Lym’s influence will be the track’s autumn meeting, which will include the Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 1-2.
For 2020, Lym has preliminary thoughts on potential changes for the winter-spring meeting. This year, Santa Anita is offering 15 stakes in January at a time he notes many owners and trainers are more focused on the long-term plans for their runners than they are on starting horses.
Lym hinted the January stakes calendar could change, but did not mention specifics.
“Do we need that many stakes in January?” he said. “There are changes we can make there.”
For now, there is the task of settling into the winter and a four-day racing schedule for the next five months.
“I want to make racing better,” he said. “I don’t want to change what Santa Anita is and the prestige that it has.”
