Santa Anita to add turf chute, may resume hillside turf races

Santa Anita is constructing a turf chute on the first turn to allow races to be run at additional sprint distances as early as this winter and may resume sprint races on the hillside turf course next year for the first time since March 2019, track officials told the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday.

The track received approval for an autumn meeting from Sept. 19 to Oct. 25 at Thursday’s racing board meeting, which was held via teleconference.

Construction recently began on the turf chute, which will allow races to be held at distances of six and 6 1/2 furlongs. Currently, turf sprints at 5 1/2 furlongs start on the dirt track for a few strides before the runners join the turf course oval.

The new chute will have start positions on turf at six and 6 1/2 furlongs before the runners cross the main track on the first turn and join the backstretch of the turf oval. The new chute, which has been in discussion for about a year, will not be ready until early 2021.

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“We’ve been granted authority to build a second chute for turf racing,” Aidan Butler told the racing board. “We might get it ready for the next meeting.”

Butler is the acting executive director of racing operations at California tracks for The Stronach Group, the track’s parent company.

Butler was asked by racing board commissioners about the possibility of resuming sprint races on the hillside turf course and said such races could be offered at the 2020-21 winter-spring meeting.

“We’re bringing that back slowly and using it for special purposes,” Butler said.

As recently as last November, Butler said Santa Anita would not run sprints on the hillside turf course.

The track’s hillside course has been used for the start of marathon turf races at distances ranging from 1 1/4 miles to about 1 3/4 miles since April 2019. Sprint races on turf have been run on the main oval at five and 5 1/2 furlongs in the last 16 months.

Sprint races on the hillside turf course were stopped in the spring of 2019 after a series of equine fatalities in training and racing at Santa Anita that drew widespread attention. There was a fatal breakdown in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes at Santa Anita in late March 2019, the last day the course was used for sprints.

The concept of the new chute drew praise from Alan Balch, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers.

“It will add a tremendous amount of options and variety to the racing program,” Balch told the racing board.

Santa Anita’s application for autumn racing dates listed as many as 22 days of racing, but the track has scheduled 18 days. There will be racing on Fridays-Sundays, following a pattern of three-day weeks in Southern California for much of the year.

The racing dates Santa Anita was awarded allowed the track to open the autumn meet as early as Sept. 11. Earlier this summer, the track announced the opening day would be delayed to Sept. 19. The delayed start creates a 12-day gap following the end of the Del Mar summer meeting on Sept. 7.

Butler said the gap allows Santa Anita to prepare for the meeting amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s prudent to make sure the horses are settled and all [coronavirus] protocols are running,” he said.

There was no mention during Thursday’s meeting about whether spectators, or even owners, would be allowed to attend live racing.

The gap between Del Mar and Santa Anita also allows Santa Anita to conduct simulcast wagering that will build revenue for purses and track operating costs. Such a weekend without live Thoroughbred racing in Southern California can generate approximately $500,000 in revenue for purses from simulcasting and account-wagering sources, officials have said in the past.