Santa Anita cancels Thursday card due to expected rain

ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita cancelled Thursday’s eight-race program because of heavy rain expected the day before, the track announced Sunday.

Racing is scheduled to resume at noon Friday with an 11-race program. Friday programs have typically had eight or nine races in recent months.

Rain is forecast from Tuesday through Thursday, with as much as an inch projected to fall Wednesday.

The winter-spring meeting, which began on Dec. 26, has been plagued by wet weather. The Jan. 17 program was cancelled that morning because of wet conditions.

Through Sunday, 16.2 inches of rain has been recorded in Los Angeles since Oct. 1, according to the Los Angeles Times. During the corresponding period last year, 1.88 inches of rain had fallen. The average is 12.4 inches for the same time period.

Early Sunday afternoon the track announced that races scheduled for Thursday would be offered again on Friday. An 11-race program is scheduled for Saturday, while 10 are likely on Sunday.

Saturday’s program is highlighted by the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds.

“We thought it was best to protect the weekend and not take the chance,” Tim Ritvo, the chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, the track’s parent company, said of Thursday’s cancellation.

“We’re trying to be really proactive. Thursday is not as important as the weekend.”

Thursday’s card was cancelled at lunchtime on Sunday while entries were being compiled for Friday. Officials said entries were light for Friday at the time, and that Friday’s program would have had a preponderance of short fields.

“We could have gotten there, but it would have been ugly,” said P.J. Campo, the executive vice-president of racing for The Stronach Group. “We didn’t want to push it. We could have gotten Friday done.”

The decision to cancel Thursday’s program comes less than a week after the main track was closed late on the morning of Feb. 25 and all day on Feb. 26 and 27 to inspect the surface following 19 equine fatalities in recent months. Track officials and consultants said no irregularities were found during the inspection.

Racing resumed last Thursday. On Saturday, Eskenforadrink, a $16,000 claimer, was euthanized as a result of an injury sustained in the day’s third race.
The fatalities led to a protest near track property by animal rights activists midday on Sunday.

The wet conditions have affected business. Rivto said all-sources handle is down “about 5 percent for the meeting.”

Through Saturday, average field sizes showed a decline compared to the corresponding period last year at a time when the track has increased the number of races run on numerous days. Through Saturday, fields had averaged 7.42 runners per race, compared to 8.1 runners for a similar period at the 2017-18 meeting.

This year, there have been 360 races through Saturday compared to 341 through the first Saturday of March in 2018.