Santa Anita's new track gets high marks from trainers

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita’s new racetrack has been well received by trainers since it was installed in late summer. The track has been used for training since early September and will be tested in racing for the first time Sept. 26 on the opening-day program.

“So far, so good,” said trainer Jim Cassidy, president of the California Thoroughbred Trainers Association. “I’ve worked 25, and they’ve come back good.”

Trainer Phil D’Amato described the surface as “very good.” He plans to enter possibly 15 horses for the first three days of the meeting, Sept. 26-28.

“They seem to get over the track great,” he said. “It seems like it will be a fair track.”

Trainer Bob Baffert said the surface is “getting better every day. It’s got a good bounce and life to it.”

The surface was installed by track superintendent Dennis Moore using El Segundo sand, a material excavated from beneath a construction project near Los Angeles International Airport. El Segundo, Calif., is adjacent to the airport.

Moore said the new surface initially was “a little deeper and slower, but that was by design. Everything seems good right now.”

A similar surface is scheduled to be installed next year at Del Mar.