Santa Anita makes minor changes to stakes schedule
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Santa Anita has made minimal changes to the stakes schedule for its six-week autumn meeting from Sept. 29 to Nov. 5, a season highlighted by the Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 3-4.
There are 14 stakes from Sept. 29 through Oct. 8 designed as preps for BC races. Four of those races offer automatic berths to BC races through the Win and You’re In program – the Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on dirt, American Pharoah Stakes for 2-year-olds, the Chandelier Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, and the Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares on turf.
The Speakeasy Stakes for 2-year-old turf sprinters at Santa Anita was part of the Win and You’re In series in 2022, but was not included in the program this year.
The Awesome Again, American Pharoah, and Rodeo Drive are worth $300,000, the richest non-Breeders’ Cup races of the meeting.
The dates of some BC prep stakes have been moved. The meeting’s first stakes is the Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs Friday, Sept. 29. The race was run on the first Sunday of the meeting last year.
There are 16 Breeders’ Cup-affiliated races – 14 seven-figure races that carry Breeders’ Cup names as well as the $150,000 Qatar Golden Mile for 2-year-olds on turf on Nov. 3, and the $250,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance at 1 3/4 miles on dirt on Nov. 4.
The purses of three stakes have been increased.
Two stakes have been raised $50,000 – the $150,000 The Sen. Ken Maddy Stakes for fillies and mares on the hillside turf course on Nov. 3, and the Grade 2 Twilight Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf on Nov. 4 will be worth $250,000.
The Unzip Me Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course for 3-year-old fillies will be worth $100,000 on Oct. 1, an increase of $15,000.
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