Six months ago, the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting began the day after Christmas without a paying audience amidst a pandemic that had a devastating grip on Southern California, filling hospitals beyond capacity. Essential employees and a small number of horse owners were among the few people to attend what should have been a huge opening day on Dec. 26, and they were allowed in only after they underwent a pre-admission temperature check. The 78-day season ended on Sunday, the third day the track was permitted to offer walk-up admissions to an audience no longer required to wear face coverings in a region with some of the lowest coronavirus positivity rates in the nation. The track announced an ontrack crowd of 9,880 for the 11-race Father’s Day program. :: Bet the races with confidence on DRF Bets. You're one click away from the only top-rated betting platform fully integrated with exclusive data, analysis, and expert picks. Much of pandemic life changed favorably in California through the race meeting, with more businesses, particularly live sporting events, allowed to expand audiences. From Dec. 26 through the end of March, owners with horses racing on a given day were allowed to attend live racing. Beginning April 1, Santa Anita was permitted to host a small ontrack audience required to purchase tickets in advance. Racegoers were spread through the grandstand and clubhouse in box seats and tables. State government officials further relaxed the policy last week, which allowed for more fans at the races for the final three days of the season, from Friday through Sunday. Handle figures were strong enough this year that general manager Nate Newby said on Sunday that a purse increase is projected for the 2021-22 winter-spring meeting. The track derives purse revenue only from race betting, unlike many tracks outside of California which benefit from slot machines or other gaming. “The purse account is in good shape,” Newby said. “We’ve got a good chance to raise purses for the winter-spring meeting. We’ll finalize that very soon.” Aside from the pandemic, the season will be remembered as the first since 2017-18 held without disruption. The 2018-19 season was interrupted for three weeks in March after the main track underwent inspection and renovation following a series of equine fatalities in training and racing that made international news. The 2019-20 season was halted from March 27 to May 15 by the Los Angeles County Board of Public Health at the start of the pandemic. At the time, Santa Anita was categorized as a nonessential business, leading to the cancellation of 21 racing days. This year’s season unfolded through a worrisome drought, with very few races shifted from turf to the main track. The turf course was used extensively through the meeting, and helped offset a concerning drop in average field size. Of 703 races run at this year’s meeting, 336 were on turf, or 47 percent. Fields averaged 7.24 runners per race overall, and 7.83 runners in turf races. A new backstretch turf chute, allowing sprints at 6 and 6 1/2 furlongs, was introduced at the winter-spring meeting and was frequently used several times a day. In 2019-20, fields averaged 7.5 runners for all races. The turf course was used for 43 percent of the races, averaging 8.31 runners per race. In early spring of this year, the track altered its racing schedule to give the turf course a chance to generate growth and give the horse population a brief rest. Racing was not held on two Fridays – April 9 and 16. There was no turf racing on April 10-11 and limited use of the surface on April 17-18. Racing dates for the 2021-22 Santa Anita season have not been determined, but are likely to be similar to this year. On the track, jockey Flavien Prat and trainer Phil D’Amato were easy leaders of their respective categories. Prat won 124 races, including a single-season record of 20 stakes. Juan Hernandez finished second with 92 wins. D’Amato won 52 races, seven more than runner-up Peter Miller. Bob Baffert led all trainers with a meet record 17 stakes wins, beating his own previous mark of 16 stakes wins from the 1998-99 winter-spring meeting. Racing shifts to Los Alamitos for a two-week summer meeting from Friday through July 5. Racing resumes at Santa Anita for an autumn meeting on Oct. 1-31.