Santa Anita granted provisional approval for fall meet

DEL MAR, Calif. – Santa Anita received provisional approval from the California Horse Racing Board on Friday to run its six-week autumn meeting from Sept. 27 to Nov. 3 contingent on the track informing racing board staff in coming weeks of specific plans regarding the use of the hillside turf course for sprints.

Santa Anita has not conducted races at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course since a two-horse spill occurred on March 31. From early April through the conclusion of the track’s six-month meeting on June 23, all turf sprints were run at five furlongs.

At Thursday’s meeting, track officials did not specify how frequently sprints will be run on the hillside turf course this fall. Tim Ritvo, the chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, the track’s parent company, said the course will be used for “selective races.”

“Right now, we’re putting it on the schedule,” Ritvo told the racing board.

Santa Anita officials were told to contact racing board executive director Rick Baedeker in coming weeks with a specific plan for turf sprints. Baedeker must agree to Santa Anita’s plans for the race license to take effect, according to a motion adopted unanimously by the racing board.

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The Breeders’ Cup races will be run at Santa Anita on Nov. 1-2. Breeders’ Cup president Craig Fravel said at Thursday’s racing board meeting that the Juvenile Turf Sprint and Turf Sprint will be run at five furlongs on turf.

According to the stakes schedule for the autumn meeting submitted to the racing board, Santa Anita is planning to run six stakes for turf sprinters other than Breeders’ Cup races – three on the hillside turf course and three at five furlongs.

That could change. In the spring, the track moved five turf sprints from the hillside turf course to five furlongs on turf after the March 31 incident.

Ritvo told the racing board that a chute is being constructed on the backstretch of the turf course oval that will eventually allow turf sprints to be run at 5 1/2 furlongs. Such a race would start on the dirt course before joining the main turf oval.

Racing board commissioner Alex Solis, a retired Hall of Fame jockey, told Santa Anita officials that he was concerned about safety of the five-furlong turf races, particularly when temporary rails are in place. He said riders had expressed concern about the sharp nature of the turn and that some horses struggle to handle the turn.

“I’ve ridden on the hillside since 1985,” said Solis, who retired in 2017. “We felt safe on it and it worked out for us.”

In an interview after the meeting, Ritvo said the track was “exploring its options” regarding the hillside course.

“We have to decide what is in the interest of the health and safety of the horses,” he said.