Santa Anita moves some turf races to dirt for second straight day
ARCADIA, Calif. – Five races were transferred from the turf course to the main track at Santa Anita on Saturday and Sunday after jockeys said they were uncomfortable with the condition of the course on the final turn.
The decision to transfer the races was made after both programs were under way.
The final three turf races on Saturday were moved to the dirt track after Midnight Jostar slipped and fell in early stretch of the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes, the fifth of 12 races.
Midnight Jostar was not injured, but will undergo more extensive tests later this week, trainer Phil D’Amato said Sunday.
Jockey Kent Desormeaux was unseated from Midnight Jostar, but rode the following race. Desormeaux took off his final two mounts Saturday and all three of his mounts on Sunday, citing soreness.
The course was watered late in the week, and an area on the final turn was deemed slippery by riders. The track ran three races on turf Sunday – two races that involved the final turn, and a race on the hillside course – before the decision was made to transfer the final two turf races of the day to the dirt. Those races were scheduled for distances that required the runners to race around the turn.
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The hillside turf course joins the main turf oval at the top of the stretch and does not involve racing on the final turn. The seventh race on Sunday, the $100,000 John Shear Stakes for 3-year-olds, was run on the hillside turf course after the decision was made to transfer the final two turf races of the day to the dirt track.
In Sunday’s third race, Chaos Theory bobbled on the turn, leading jockey Hector Berrios to take a firm hold of the 8-year-old gelding for a few strides. Chaos Theory finished fifth of six.
Trainer Mike Puype spoke to Berrios after the race and said Berrios felt Chaos Theory “slip a little bit on the turn.”
Juan Hernandez, the leading rider at Santa Anita this year, rode the first two turf races on Sunday, which involved racing on the turn.
“The backstretch and the stretch are good,” said Juan Hernandez between races on Sunday.
“It’s the same spot where Kent came off. Horses are having trouble on the turn. I don’t think it’s safe for today.”
A group of 14 jockeys and racing officials walked the course after training on Sunday morning and deemed the course suitable for racing.
Track general manager Nate Newby said Sunday morning that the turf course was aerated after racing on Saturday to improve drainage.
“We’re trying to walk the line and not let it get too dry,” he said.
Newby said the decision to transfer the final three turf races on Saturday to the main track was done “to err on the side of safety.”
Sunday was the final day of the first portion of the track’s six-month meeting, which began Dec. 26 and continues through June 18. Racing resumes April 21, giving maintenance crews ample time in the middle of this month to improve the condition of the course.
Turf racing is a vital part of Santa Anita’s racing program. Through Sunday, the track had run 398 races at the current meeting, with 183 on turf. The turf races have averaged 8.15 runners per race, compared to 6.69 runners in 215 dirt races. Overall, fields have averaged 7.36 runners per race.
During the 2021-22 meeting, the April break occurred a week later. From Dec. 26, 2021, through April 17, 2022, the track ran 464 races, with 232 races on each surface. Turf races averaged 7.74 runners in that span, compared to 6.31 on dirt. Overall, fields averaged 7.02 runners during that span of the 2021-22 meeting.
The winter of 2021-22 had much drier conditions than recent months in which the track has lost eight days of racing because of inclement weather and conducted three makeup days.
Despite concern about the final turn, there was a course record Sunday.
In the fifth race, an allowance race for older horses at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course, Noble Reflection ($17) won in record time of 1:10.52. Noble Reflection set early fractions of 21.46 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 43.17 for a half-mile.
The previous mark of 1:10.73 was set in 2014 by Eddie’s First. In the John Shear Stakes, First Peace was timed in 1:11.50.
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