Santa Anita still awaiting response from Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

Santa Anita officials remain hopeful racing can resume in May even though the track has not yet been granted permission to do so by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Santa Anita has not raced since March 22. The track was ordered closed by county health officials on March 27 when it was deemed a nonessential business during the pandemic. The track ran five programs from March 14 through 22 without spectators and with a limited number of employees on site.

Through this weekend, Santa Anita will have lost 15 days of racing, with no guidance from county health officials about when racing can resume. The track presented an extensive plan to resume racing to county health officials on April 16, but have not been told whether the proposal has been approved.

“I’ve messaged the supervisors and asked again what they think of the plan,” Aidan Butler, the acting director of California racing for the track’s parent company, The Stronach Group, said on Thursday evening.

“I’m hoping they look at it and say yes. The plan was put forward with a common-sense approach.”

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The multi-faceted proposal would expand on protocols put in place in mid-March. The amended protocols would require jockeys, assistant starters, and a group of grooms, who will handle horses being saddled for racing, to relocate to accommodations onsite that will be constructed in a parking lot.

“If we get the green light, we’ve got to build a city,” Butler said. “We’ll have a quarantine area and they are the only people allowed in it.”

Thursday, Santa Anita published a message on its website saying the track would need at least a week to resume racing if approval is granted.

“To manage expectations, should we be able to resume live racing under the new protocols submitted, we anticipate there will be a delay of 7 to 10 days between acceptance of the plan and implementation of the protocols to return to live racing,” the statement read, in part.

A response from Los Angeles county health officials early next week would mean a resumption of racing on May 8, at the earliest. Then again, Santa Anita officials had hoped to hear from county officials this week to resume racing on the first weekend of May.

The Santa Anita meeting is scheduled to end on June 21, five days before Los Alamitos begins at two-week afternoon Thoroughbred meeting. Los Alamitos, located in Orange County, has continued to operate an evening meeting of Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds in recent weeks without spectators or horse owners present.

The situation facing Santa Anita is similar to that at Golden Gate Fields in Northern California, also owned by The Stronach Group. Golden Gate Fields has yet to receive approval to resume racing, Butler said. Golden Gate Fields has not raced since March 29. The track was ordered shut by Alameda county health officials on April 2.