Santa Anita cancels five Thursday cards due to horse shortage

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita has eliminated the next five Thursdays from the racing schedule in light of a reduction in race-ready horses in Southern California.

Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, the track’s parent company, said on Friday that Santa Anita will race Fridays through Sundays for the next four weeks. The track is scheduled to race Friday, May 24, through Monday, May 27 on the week of Memorial Day. Racing was not scheduled for Thursday, May 30, when the original calendar was published.

Ritvo said no decision has been made whether to race on the final three Thursdays of the meeting – June 6, 13, and 20. The season concludes June 23.

“As we progress, we’ll see where we’re at,” Ritvo said. “We’ve lost some of our horse population.”

In recent weeks, several stables have shipped horses to Kentucky for the lucrative spring meeting at Keeneland and in anticipation of the Churchill Downs meeting, which begins April 27.

Santa Anita canceled 13 days of racing in March after a series of equine fatalities in late March and early April.

Since the meeting began Dec. 26, the track has averaged 7.47 runners per race. From March 29 through Sunday, the average was 7.84 runners. For a similar period from Dec. 26, 2017, to April 19, 2018, the track averaged 7.99 runners per race.

But in recent days, the number of entries have declined. There were 47 runners on an eight-race card last Sunday. This Sunday’s eight-race program will have a maximum of 50 starters, pending scratches. On both days, the track hoped to run nine races.