Santa Anita moves Friday card to Monday due to expected rain

Santa Anita has postponed an eight-race program from Friday to Monday out of concern over expected rain throughout Friday.

With the revised schedule, the track will run three consecutive days from Saturday through Monday. The Saturday program includes six graded stakes.

Racing secretary Chris Merz said Wednesday that about a half-inch of rain is expected on Friday and that the cancellation was done on a precautionary basis.

“We want a fast and firm course for Saturday,” Merz said. “It’s supposed to rain throughout the day. We didn’t want to take any chances with Saturday.

“We’re playing defense to play offense for the weekend.”

Clear weather is forecast for Monday.

The decision was announced late Wednesday afternoon after the track received approval from the California Horse Racing Board and consulted with groups representing owners, trainers, and jockeys.

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There will be no changes to the program scheduled for Friday when those races are conducted on Monday, beginning at 12:30 p.m. Pacific. Monday was already a racing day in California, with Golden Gate Fields planning to race that afternoon. Golden Gate will have a mandatory payout in its Rainbow pick six on Monday.

This is the second time weather has affected racing days at the current Santa Anita season, which began Dec. 26.

Racing was canceled on Dec. 30 because of rain.

Tracks operate under a racing board policy adopted in 2019 that states venues must have a unanimous agreement from the track superintendent, racing officials, and jockeys that racing can be conducted safely if the main track is sealed because of rain. Excessive rain led to the postponement of the opening day of the 2019-20 winter-spring meeting by 48 hours.

At Santa Anita, there will be no main-track training on Friday morning, although the infield training track will be open for jogging and galloping, weather permitting, the track announced in a text message to horsemen late Wednesday afternoon.

Even though a racing day was lost in late December, conditions have been largely dry in Southern California in recent months, leaving concern that the state remains in a troublesome drought.