Oak Tree contributing toward standing MRI for Santa Anita

DEL MAR, Calif. – The Oak Tree Charitable Foundation has pledged $50,000 toward the acquisition of an equine standing magnetic resonance imaging facility, to be added to the equine imaging center at Santa Anita before the end of the year, the Southern California Equine Foundation announced Friday.

Oak Tree, which ran a fall meeting at Santa Anita via lease for 42 seasons before Santa Anita ended its relationship and took over the dates itself nearly a decade ago, has made notable contributions to the sport. The ontrack hospital at Santa Anita was built in 1981 in large part owing to Oak Tree’s support, and the horse ambulances in use in Southern California, which have hydraulics to aid in loading injured horses, also were the result of Oak Tree’s funding.

“Equine health and welfare have long been priorities of Oak Tree, and we’re so pleased we can continue our longstanding efforts to assist California racing,” John Barr, the president of Oak Tree, said in a statement. “Nothing is more important to racing than modernizing our diagnostic tools to the state-of-the-art, and the standing MRI will be immediately useful.”