Santa Anita to renovate main track

ARCADIA, Calif. - The main track at Santa Anita will be renovated in summer, several months before the track hosts the Breeders’ Cup races for the third consecutive year on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

The track made the announcement in a statement released on Friday.

In early July, following the closure of the barn area for a six-week period coinciding with the Del Mar summer meeting, the existing surface will be replaced with a locally based soil, known as El Segundo sand, according to track superintendent Dennis Moore.

During the renovation, 12 inches of existing material will be removed before the base is surveyed in regard to slope and grade. More than 20,000 yards of new material will be installed, according to the statement.

Horses will begin exercising on the new track in late August or early September when the barn area reopens toward the end of the Del Mar meeting, which ends on Sept. 3. The new track will be used for racing for the first time in late September, at the start of the Santa Anita autumn meeting, which includes the Breeders’ Cup race days.

Moore said the El Segundo sand is similar to what was used at Santa Anita in the 1970s and at Hollywood Park in the early 1980s. Recent construction projects at Los Angeles International airport have allowed excavation of the material.

The new material is being collected in a backstretch parking lot at Santa Anita where it is undergoing preliminary preparation.

The existing clay-and-sand racetrack was installed in late 2010, replacing a synthetic surface. The existing surface has been renovated to make it kinder and safer to horses.

Moore estimated the main track renovation will take approximately 5 1/2 weeks. He said the new track “will be more uniform and easier to maintain.”
A similar surface could be used at Del Mar in early 2015 when the track replaces its existing Polytrack synthetic surface, Moore said.

While the main-track renovation is still weeks away from beginning, Santa Anita has already taken steps to improve the condition of its turf course, which has been in constant use since the start of the winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26.

In a four-day period from May 12 to May 15, the course was extensively watered and underwent an aeration procedure designed to loosen the upper layer of the surface.

“We were able to aerate with a device that you could set at an angle underneath and loosen the soil,” Moore said.

There was widespread concern about the firmness of the turf course following two breakdowns on the weekend of May 10-11. On May 10, leading jockey Rafael Bejarano suffered collarbone, shoulder blade and rib injuries in a spill when his mount broke down badly. The following day, the maiden Eddie’s First ran about 6 1/2 furlongs in a course-record time of 1:10.73.

Moore said that Bernie Eastridge, who formerly oversaw turf courses at Bay Meadows and Hollywood Park, is supervising maintenance of the Santa Anita course.

“He’s a hands-on guy and right in the middle of it,” Moore said.

There have been few canceled turf races this year because of a drought in California. Through Friday, the Los Angeles area has received approximately six inches of rain since last July, compared to a normal amount of 14.7 inches during the period.

“This has been an extraordinary year,” Santa Anita chairman Keith Brackpool said on Thursday. “We have had no rain the whole year.”