Santa Anita forced to cancel card due to significant rainstorm

Santa Anita canceled racing on Saturday because of a forecast of a significant rainstorm through the day, according to a statement released early Saturday morning.

The statement indicated a decision on Sunday’s program would be made that morning, pending an evaluation of conditions.

Later on Saturday morning, Los Alamitos announced it was canceling its evening program of races for Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds.

At Santa Anita, the loss of Saturday’s program is the fifth day of racing canceled because of wet conditions in a little more than a week. Racing was cancelled on Dec. 26-27 and on Wednesday and Thursday of this week because of extensive rain.

A replacement program was held on Monday. Wednesday’s program was intended to be a makeup program.

:: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more.

So far, there have been three days of racing conducted at the winter-spring meeting – last Sunday and Monday, and on Friday of this week. The original schedule called for Saturday to be the sixth day of the season, which was supposed to have started on Dec. 26.

The track has scheduled makeup days on the next two Thursdays – Jan. 8 and Jan. 15.

In an early morning text message to horsemen on Saturday, the track’s racing office wrote that the races planned for Saturday would be rescheduled, and stated details would be announced later in the day. The program included the Grade 3 Santa Ynez Stakes, a $100,000 race for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs. The race is now scheduled for Jan. 10, the racing office announced early Saturday afternoon.

The Jan. 8 program is scheduled to include two $100,000 turf stakes – the Grade 3 Robert Frankel Stakes for fillies and mares and Eddie Logan Stakes for 2-year-olds that were postponed.

California tracks are discouraged from racing in severe weather, following inclement weather policies enacted by the California Horse Racing Board in late 2020.

Last winter, Santa Anita escaped cancellations related to wet weather, but lost three days of racing in early January because of devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Three makeup days were later conducted in January and March.

In the winter of 2023-2024, there were six days of racing canceled because of rain. Three replacement days were added to the schedule.

At the 2022-2023 winter-spring meeting, the track canceled eight days of racing from early January to late March because of weather conditions and were able to make up four days of racing.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.