Santa Anita makes several changes to winter-spring stakes schedule

Santa Anita has made several changes to the stakes schedule for the winter-spring meeting, revamping the calendar for older males on dirt, cutting the purse of the Santa Anita Handicap, adding a six-figure race for 3-year-olds on turf, and putting a graded stakes on turf on hiatus.

The stakes schedule was announced on Thursday. The meeting runs from Dec. 26 to April 8 and will be followed by a spring-summer meeting through June 26. The spring-summer stakes schedule will be announced in early 20 18.

The winter-spring season begins with a notable change on Dec. 26. The Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes for older horses at 1 1/16 miles, typically run in early February, has been moved to opening day. The $300,000 San Antonio is positioned as a prep for the $16 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 27.

“It will have a little more light on it,” said Rick Hammerle, Santa Anita’s vice-president of racing.

The Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes for older horses has been moved from early January to early February, and will be run at 1 1/8 miles rather than the previous distance of 1 1/16 miles. The $200,000 race will serve as a prep for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 10, which will be worth $600,000. The 2015 Big Cap was worth $1 million, and the race was worth $750,000 last year.

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The Big Cap has lost runners in the last 20 years to the $10 million Dubai World Cup, and is now overshadowed on the domestic scene by the Pegasus World Cup.

The winter-spring meeting will have one seven-figure race – the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 7.

Three-year-olds will race for $200,000 in the Pasadena Stakes at a mile on turf March 17. The race was worth $75,000 in recent years. Previously, the leading turf stakes for 3-year-olds in Southern California have been concentrated in the second half of the year.

Hammerle is hopeful the race will draw participation from out-of-state trainers.

“We never had one of these before,” Hammerle said.

The Grade 2 Arcadia Stakes at a mile on turf will not be run in 2018.

“We did have to adjust a little bit,” Hammerle said.

The main turf race of the meeting is the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on March 10, which will have a purse of $400,000.

The Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs has been moved from late January to March 24 to serve as a prep for the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 5.