Wednesday, Thursday cards canceled due to expected rain

Santa Anita has canceled racing on Wednesday and Thursday because of the expectation of significant rain, the track announced early Wednesday.

Racing is scheduled to resume on Friday for a three-day weekend through Sunday. The track plans to conduct a makeup day of racing on Thursday, Jan. 8, according to a text message issued by the racing office on Wednesday.

The early days of the winter-spring meeting have been plagued by wet conditions. Programs on Dec. 26-27 were canceled because of rain, resulting in opening day being delayed to Sunday. A makeup program was held on Monday.

Wednesday’s program was meant to be another makeup day.

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The cancellation of Wednesday’s program will lead to the postponement of two $100,000 turf stakes - the Grade 3 Robert Frankel Stakes for fillies and mares and Eddie Logan Stakes for 2-year-olds.

The Jan. 8 program will include races that were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, the racing office announced. Entries for the Jan. 8 program will be completed this Saturday.

In a statement issued early Wednesday, the track cited a forecast that indicated the storm would arrive midday on Wednesday and not later in the day as originally expected.

More than two inches of rain are expected on Wednesday and Thursday, according to accuweather.com.

California tracks are discouraged from racing in severe weather, following inclement weather policies enacted by the California Horse Racing Board in late 2020.

Last winter, the track escaped cancellations related to wet weather, but lost three days of racing in early January because of devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Three makeup days were later conducted in January and March.

In the winter of 2023-2024, there were six days of racing canceled because of rain. Three replacement days were added to the schedule that year.

At the 2022-2023 winter-spring meeting, the track canceled eight days of racing from early January to late March because of weather conditions and were able to make up four days of racing.

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