Santa Anita's renovated track set to re-open for workouts Thursday

Santa Anita is tentatively scheduled to reopen its track for full training, including timed workouts, on Thursday, following a two-week project to change the soil composition of the sand-and-clay track.

The track was closed after training on July 11 to reduce clay content and add sand. The project was scheduled to be completed in time for training to resume on Tuesday.

During the renovation project, the top six inches of the surface, more than 17,000 tons of material, was removed. The material was mixed with sand that had minimal clay content and then put back on the surface.

Before being reapplied, the new material underwent soil composition tests on-site and at a laboratory in Texas to reach a mixture as close as possible to 87.5 percent sand, 8 percent silt, and 4.5 percent clay.

The track will be open for training during the current Del Mar meeting. The Santa Anita autumn meeting is tentatively scheduled to open on Sept. 29.