Santa Anita Park is a
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...
racetrack
A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also u ...
in
Arcadia, California
Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of th ...
, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races including both the
Santa Anita Derby
The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is currently run at a distance of miles on the dirt and carries a purse of $400,000. It is on ...
and the
Santa Anita Handicap
The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses four years old and up and was once considered the most important race for old ...
as well as hosting the
Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, ...
in 1986, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2023. Since 2011, the
Stronach Group
Stronach Group, doing business as 1/ST, is an entertainment and real estate company in North America with Thoroughbred horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering at the core.[Rancho Santa Anita
Rancho Santa Anita was a land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given to naturalized Scottish immigrant Hugo Reid and his Kizh people wife. Reid built an adobe residence there in 1839, and the land grant was formally recognized ...](_blank ...<br></span></div> are the current owners.
<h1><br><p> History</h1></p><h2><br><p> The original Santa Anita Park</h2></p>
Santa Anita Park was originally part of )
", which was owned originally by former San Gabriel Mission Mayor-Domo, Claudio Lopez, and named after a family member, "Anita Cota". The ranch was later acquired by rancher
Hugo Reid
Hugo Reid (April 18, 1811 – December 12, 1852), a Scottish immigrant, was an early resident of Los Angeles County who became known for writing a series of newspaper articles, or "letters," that described the culture, language, and contemporary c ...
, a
Scotsman
The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...
. The property's most widely known owner would be multimillionaire
Lucky Baldwin
Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin (April 3, 1828 – March 1, 1909) was "one of the greatest pioneers" of California business, an investor, and real estate speculator during the second half of the 19th century. He earned the nickname "Lucky" Baldwin d ...
, a successful businessman in San Francisco who greatly enhanced his wealth through an investment in the famous
Comstock Lode
The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the United ...
. Baldwin became a successful breeder and owner of Thoroughbred racehorses and in 1904 would build a racetrack adjacent to the present site in what is today the city of Arcadia, outside of the city of Los Angeles. On February 4, 1909 the
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legisla ...
passed an anti-racetrack gambling bill known as the
Walker–Otis Law. Similar in its goal to
New York State's 1908
Hart–Agnew Law
The Hart–Agnew Law was an anti-gambling bill passed into law by the Legislature of the State of New York on June 11, 1908. It was an amalgam of bills enacted as Chapter 506 and 507 which were sponsored by conservative Assemblyman Merwin K. Hart ...
, the California law resulted in the permanent closing of the Baldwin racetrack. In 1912 the racing facility burned to the ground.
The new Santa Anita Park
In 1933, California legalized
parimutuel
Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winnin ...
wagering and several investor groups worked to open racetracks. In the
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
area, a group headed by
Dr. Charles H "Doc" Strub was having trouble locating a site. In the Los Angeles area, a group headed by movie producer
Hal Roach
Harry Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr.Randy Skretvedt, Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, a ...
was in need of further funds. These two groups combined and the newly formed Los Angeles Turf Club opened the present day track on Christmas Day in 1934, making it the first formally-established racetrack in California. Architect
Gordon Kaufmann
Gordon Bernie Kaufmann (19 March 1888 – 1 March 1949) was an English-born American architect mostly known for his work on the Hoover Dam.
Early life
On 19 March 1888, Kaufmann was born in Forest Hill, London, England.
Education
K ...
designed its various buildings in a combination of
Colonial Revival
The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture.
The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...
and a type of
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
known as
Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...
, painted primarily in Santa Anita's signature colors of
Persian Green
Persian green is a color used in pottery and Persian carpets in Iran. It is also utilized in the architecture of religious places.
Other colors associated with Persia include Shades of pink#Persian pink, Persian pink, Shades of rose#Persian rose, ...
and
Chiffon Yellow.
In February 1935, the first
Santa Anita Handicap
The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses four years old and up and was once considered the most important race for old ...
was run. The race's $100,000 purse, largest of any race ever in the United States until that time, produced its nickname the Big 'Cap.
In its heyday, the track's races attracted such stars
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer.
Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million; for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she reign ...
,
Lana Turner
Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized per ...
,
Edgar Bergen
Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Ch ...
,
Jane Russell
Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model. She was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She starred in more than 20 films.
Russell moved from th ...
,
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...
,
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...
,
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Ol ...
, and other stars.
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
,
Joe E. Brown
Joseph Evans Brown (July 28, 1891 – July 6, 1973) was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his friendly screen persona, comic timing, and enormous elastic-mouth smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 19 ...
,
Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...
, and
Harry Warner
Harry Morris Warner (born Hirsz Mojżesz Wonsal; December 12, 1881 – July 25, 1958) was an American studio executive, one of the founders of Warner Bros., and a major contributor to the development of the film industry. Along with his three y ...
were all stockholders.
![Santa Anita Track (3446121612)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Santa_Anita_Track_%283446121612%29.jpg)
In 1940,
Seabiscuit
Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933 – May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse ...
won the Santa Anita Handicap in his last start.
In 1942, racing at Santa Anita was suspended due to the Second World War. Santa Anita was used as an "assembly center" for
Japanese Americans excluded from the West Coast.
(See
below
Below may refer to:
*Earth
*Ground (disambiguation)
*Soil
*Floor
*Bottom (disambiguation)
Bottom may refer to:
Anatomy and sex
* Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or ...
.) For several months in 1942, over 18,000 people lived in horse stables and military-style barracks constructed on the site, including actor
George Takei
George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井 穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televi ...
, then a young boy. After the track reopened in 1945,
it went through the postwar years with prosperity. A downhill turf course, which added a distinctly European flair to racing at Santa Anita, was added in 1953.
Due to its proximity to Los Angeles, Santa Anita has traditionally been associated with the film and television industries. The racetrack sequences in the
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
1937 classic ''
A Day at the Races'' were filmed there, and ''
The Story of Seabiscuit
''The Story of Seabiscuit'' is a 1949 American drama film directed by David Butler and starring Shirley Temple and Barry Fitzgerald in a semi-fictionalized account of racehorse Seabiscuit, the top money winner up to the 1940s. The screenplay w ...
'' with
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...
was filmed on location in 1949.
It was also featured in ''
A Star Is Born'' (1937). Several stars, including
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
,
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...
,
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...
,
Alex Trebek
George Alexander Trebek (; July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian-American game show host and television personality. He is best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show ''Jeopardy!'' for 37 season ...
, and
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
mogul,
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer (; born Lazar Meir; July 12, 1882 or 1884 or 1885 – October 29, 1957) was a Canadian-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924. Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industr ...
, have owned horses that raced at the park.
The 1958 Santa Anita Derby was attended by 61,123 people, making the attendance that day a record crowd. They had come to watch
Silky Sullivan
Silky Sullivan (February 28, 1955 – November 18, 1977) was an American thoroughbred racehorse best known for his come-from-behind racing style.
Racing style
There were other great closers— Whirlaway, Stymie, Calidoscopio, Needles ...
come from 28 lengths off the pace and win—going away.
The 1960s brought about a major renovation of Santa Anita Park, including a much-expanded grandstand as well as major seating additions. In 1968,
Del Mar Racetrack
The Del Mar Fairgrounds is a event venue in Del Mar, California. The annual San Diego County Fair is held here, which was called the Del Mar Fair from 1984 to 2001. In 1936, the Del Mar Racetrack was built by the Thoroughbred Club with foundin ...
relinquished its dates for a fall meeting. A group of horsemen including
Clement Hirsch intervened and established the not-for-profit
Oak Tree Racing Association
The Oak Tree Racing Association is an American nonprofit corporation that exists to conduct live thoroughbred horse racing in Southern California.
Graded Stakes races at the Oak Tree meet
Since Oak Tree Racing moved to Hollywood Park in 2010, some ...
. Oak Tree had no facilities of its own and rented Santa Anita Park for its first autumn meeting in 1969. The Oak Tree Association became the operator of the autumn meet at Santa Anita Park. This meet usually ran from the end of September until early November. Many key stakes races were held during the Oak Tree Meeting, including many preps to the
Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, ...
races. The Oak Tree meet relocated to
Hollywood Park Hollywood Park may refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California
* Hollywood Park, Chicago, a neighborhood in North Park, Chicago, Illinois
* Hollywood Park, Inglewood, an entertainment complex and m ...
for 2010 but the California Horse Racing Board awarded the fall dates to Santa Anita in its own right in 2011. This prompted a renaming of many stakes races held at the fall meeting that were formerly associated with Oak Tree. For example, the Norfolk, Goodwood, Yellow Ribbon, Lady's Secret, and Oak Leaf, were renamed at the FrontRunner, Awesome Again, Rodeo Drive, Zenyatta and Chandelier respectively.
Prosperity continued at Santa Anita throughout the 1970s and the 1980s. In 1984, Santa Anita was the site of
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
* Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
events at the
1984 Olympics. The following year, the track set an attendance record of 85,527 people on Santa Anita Handicap Day. However, recognizing the potential revenue boon to the State of California, the California Legislature expanded off track betting, bring operating betting parlors within closer driving distance of the race-day tracks. While the Santa Anita meeting could still draw large crowds, attendance had decreased by a third. Only 56,810 people were at the park for Santa Anita Derby Day 2007 to witness a Grade I event.
In 1997, Santa Anita Park was acquired by Meditrust when it purchased the Santa Anita Companies for its unique
real estate investment trust
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...
paired share corporate structure. Following the elimination of the special tax treatment accorded Pair Share
REIT
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping ce ...
s, Meditrust sold the track to
Magna Entertainment Corp. In 2006,
Gulfstream Park
Gulfstream Park, owned by The Stronach Group, is a Thoroughbred race track, casino and outdoor entertainment and shopping destination in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Thoroughbred horse racing occurs year-round, defined by three distinct race meets ...
and Santa Anita cohosted the
Sunshine Millions
The Sunshine Millions is a series of American thoroughbred horse race, races for thoroughbred race horse, horses held in January at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California or at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The brainchild of promi ...
, a day of competition with $3.6 million in stakes races between horses bred in the
State of Florida
Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia (U.S. state), Geo ...
and those bred in the
State of California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
At Santa Anita standardbred racing was also conducted.
At Santa Anita Park's European-style paddock there are
statue
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
s of jockeys
George Woolf
George Monroe Woolf (May 31, 1910 – January 4, 1946), nicknamed "The Iceman", was a Canadian thoroughbred race horse jockey. An annual jockey's award given by the United States Jockeys' Guild is named in his honor. He became known for riding ...
,
Johnny Longden
John Eric "Johnny" Longden (February 14, 1907 – February 14, 2003) was an American Hall of Fame and National Champion jockey and a trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses who was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England. His father emigrated to Can ...
,
Bill Shoemaker
William Lee Shoemaker (August 19, 1931 – October 12, 2003) was an American jockey. For 29 years he held the world record for total professional jockey victories.
Early life
Referred to as "Bill", "Willie," and "The Shoe", William Lee Sho ...
and
Laffit Pincay Jr. plus a memorial
bust
Bust commonly refers to:
* A woman's breasts
* Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders
* An arrest
Bust may also refer to:
Places
* Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France
*Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically
Media
* ''Bust'' (magazin ...
of announcer
Joe Hernandez and one of trainer
Charlie Whittingham
Charles Edward Whittingham (April 13, 1913 – April 20, 1999) was an American Thoroughbred race horse trainer who is one of the most acclaimed trainers in U.S. racing history.
Early career
Born in Chula Vista, California, Whittingham began w ...
with his dog, Toby. There is also a lifesize bronze of
Seabiscuit
Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933 – May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse ...
in the walking ring at Seabiscuit Court; a similar bronze of
John Henry was unveiled near the Seabiscuit statue in December 2009. Buried near the paddock is
Emperor of Norfolk
Emperor of Norfolk (1885–1907) was a champion American Champion and Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. His large size, strong hindquarters, and racing record earned him the name "California Wonder."
Background
In the 1870s, when Joseph Cairn ...
, the best horse Lucky Baldwin ever owned, along with three other great Baldwin horses: Volante,
Silver Cloud, and Rey El Santa Anita, all four of them winners of the prestigious
American Derby
The American Derby is a Thoroughbred horse race in the United States run annually at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The inaugural American Derby was held at Chicago's old Washington Park Race Track on the city's South Side and rac ...
. In 2012, a lifesize bronze of
Zenyatta
Zenyatta (foaled April 1, 2004) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Breeders' Cup Classic and Breeders' Cup Distaff and 19 of her 20 starts. She was the 2010 American Horse of the Year, and Champion Older Female in 2008, ...
was unveiled prior to the running of the race renamed in her honor.
Since 1950, Santa Anita Park has annually presented the
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
The George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award has been presented by Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, annually since 1950 to the thoroughbred horse racing jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional condu ...
to a rider who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack.
South African native
Trevor Denman
Trevor Denman (born 24 September 1952) is a South African American sportscaster and public-address announcer specializing in Thoroughbred horse racing.
Background
Denman was born in Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa. A part-time jockey and exe ...
served as Santa Anita's full-time announcer from the 1983 Oak Tree meet until his retirement from the position in 2015.
Denman is noted for his calls beginning with "And awaaay they go..." and his distinctive gravelly voice. Queensland, Australia native
Michael Wrona
Michael Wrona (born ) is an announcer from Brisbane, Australia specializing in Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred horse racing. He is best known for the phrase "Racing!", which he says at the start of every race call.
Background
Michael Wrona began ...
was chosen to succeed Denman in March 2016, and continued through fall 2018.
Frank Mirahmadi took over after that.
Starting in 2014, Santa Anita began adding more racing cards due to the closure of
Hollywood Park Racetrack
Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to the ...
, hosting Hollywood Park's old spring dates from late April until June.
In mid-March 2020, due to the
COVID-19 outbreak
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
, racing resumed without fans; two weeks later, racing was suspended until it returned on Friday, May 15, 2020.
Horse fatalities of 2019
In early March 2019, all races were cancelled following the 21st fatality of the winter season; racing resumed late in the month. Races were postponed so that the dirt surface could be studied. Seven of the 21 deaths occurred during races on the dirt oval with nine happening during training on dirt and the others occurring on the turf track.
Thirty-seven horses died at the facility in 2019, causing the above noted suspension of races, and resulting in the California Racing Commission considering rule changes.
Following the death of the 30th horse in late June, trainer
Jerry Hollendorfer
Jerry Hollendorfer (born June 18, 1946, in Akron, Ohio) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse Horse trainer, trainer whose notable horses include Eclipse Award winners Blind Luck, Shared Belief and Songbird (horse), Songbird. He has the most wins ...
, who had trained four of the horses that died, was banned forever by the Stronach Group from all of its facilities.
Santa Anita Assembly Center
In February 1942, after President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
issued
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...
, which authorized military commanders to exclude "any or all persons" from certain areas in the name of national defense, the
Western Defense Command
Western Defense Command (WDC) was established on 17 March 1941 as the command formation of the United States Army responsible for coordinating the defense of the Pacific Coast region of the United States during World War II. A second major respo ...
began ordering Japanese Americans living on the West Coast to present themselves for "evacuation" from the newly created military zones. Seventeen temporary "assembly centers" were designated to house the evicted population until construction on the more permanent and isolated internment camps was finished. Most, like the
Santa Anita Assembly Center, were converted from former uses like racing tracks or fairgrounds.
[Linke, Konrad]
"Santa Anita (detention facility)"
''Densho Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
Santa Anita was turned over to the Wartime Civilian Control Administration, the government body responsible for oversight of the temporary detention facilities, in March 1942, and army engineers soon after built 500 barracks on the parking lot and converted the horse stables and the area underneath the grandstand into residential "apartments". Japanese-Americans began arriving in April, most coming from the surrounding Los Angeles County, and the center's population soon topped 18,000, peaking at 18,719 by August of that year. Six mess halls, each seating approximately 850 at a time, fed some 3,000 people daily at a cost of 33 cents per person. The sanitary facilities faced similar overcrowding, with a ratio of 30 people to each shower ''after'' the number of showers was increased from 150 to 225 in early July. Consequently, those in the center spent a significant portion of their time in Santa Anita waiting in line for meals or to use the sanitary facilities.
[
The Assembly Center remained open for seven months, and in the meantime, Japanese-Americans took up jobs in camp at the camouflage net factory, the hospital or various administrative departments, and set up schools to ensure their children's education would not be interrupted. Transfer to ]War Relocation Authority
The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was t ...
camps began on August 26, 1942, when 901 Japanese-Americans left for Poston, Arizona, and over the next month the remaining Japanese-Americans were sent to Poston and several other camps. The Santa Anita Assembly Center closed on October 27, 1942.[
]
Course attributes
Santa Anita has a one-mile (1,609 m) natural dirt main track which rings a turf course measuring 0.9 mile, or . In addition, it has an unusual hillside turf course which crosses the dirt and had been used mainly to run turf races at a distance of "about" 6½ furlongs (exact distance is ), as well as longer races at 1.25 miles, 1.5 miles and 1 mile 1,232 yards. This type of track is one of the few of its kind in America.
In August 2020, Santa Anita broke ground on a new backstretch turf chute. The new turf chute is expected to be finished in time for the 2020/2021 winter meet, and will be used primarily for turf sprints at distances up to 6½ furlongs. Santa Anita effectively ended downhill turf sprints following an incident in the 2019 San Simeon Stakes
The San Simeon Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old or older over the distance of about six and one-half furlongs on the turf scheduled annually in March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California ...
; under their plans, the hillside turf course will continue to be used for distance races.
To comply with a State of California mandate, Santa Anita replaced its dirt racing surface with a new synthetic surface called Cushion Track The track surface of a horse racing track refers to the material of which the track is made. There are three types of track surfaces used in modern horse racing. These are:
* Turf, the most common track surface in Europe
*Dirt, the most common trac ...
, a mixture of silica sand, synthetic fibers, elastic fiber, granulated rubber and a wax coating. The new Cushion Track opened for training on Sept 4, 2007 and hosted its first live race on Sept 26, 2007. The track lost 11 racing dates in 2008 due to a drainage problem with the new material, but intensive maintenance and the addition of a liquid binder greatly improved the artificial surface. Santa Anita restored the all natural dirt surface in December 2010.
Santa Anita occupies . It has a -long grandstand, which is a historic landmark that seats 26,000 guests. The grandstand facade is rendered in an Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style and is largely the original from the 1930s. The track infield area, which resembles a park with picnic tables and large trees, can accommodate 50,000 or more guests. The Park also contains 61 barns, which house more than 2,000 horses, and an equine hospital.
Endangerment and reprieve
In 2000, the racetrack was named to America's "Most Endangered Historic Places" list. The Santa Anita Racetrack was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2006, but continued to be threatened by developer's plans. A themed entertainment complex proposal was aborted, but there were new plans are in the works for the parking and support areas adjacent to the historic race track and grandstands.
In 2006, there was a proposal to close Santa Anita Park and use its location as the site of a new retail/entertainment complex. The Arcadia City Council approved a plan In April 2007 to develop an 830,000 square foot commercial, retail, and office complex in the south parking area, where the barracks that housed interned Japanese Americans during World War II are located. The proposal planned to tear down the South Ticket Gate and the 1938 Saddling Barn, and to install a simulcast facility in the center of the historic grandstand. In April 2008, a plan was approved to use large parts of the existing track parking lot to construct a mall, the "Shops at Santa Anita".
, the plans to build another mall next to Santa Anita Park were abandoned. Protests against the project by the Westfield group, owner of the adjacent Westfield Santa Anita Mall (built in 1974 on the site of the old barns and training track), and the bankruptcy of Magna International
Magna International Inc. is a Canadian parts manufacturer for automakers. It is one of the largest companies in Canada and was recognized on the 2020 ''Forbes'' Global 2000. The company is the largest automobile parts manufacturer in North Ameri ...
, owner of Santa Anita Park, were a factor in the decision.
TV personalities
TVG, which acquired Horse Racing TV
FanDuel Racing (formerly TVG2 and HRTV) is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network. It is part of the TVG Network and is owned by Paddy Power Betfair. Dedicated to horse racing, it broadcasts events from U.S. ...
(HRTV) in 2015, is a 24-hour television based multimedia network dedicated to horse racing which features racing action from many of the sport's greatest racetracks around the world. TVG broadcasts live from Santa Anita Park.
Talents from HRTV are now employed by TVG Network or XBTV (Xpressbet TV). Santa Anita talent now host the simulcast feed.
Expert American television personality
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
commentators employed by HRTV:
* Kurt Hoover (1988–2012)
* Jon White (1993–2015) White writes a weekly column that is accessible at xpressbet.com and hrtv.com as well as an oddsmaker for Santa Anita Park.
* Becky Witzman (2004–2006)
* Carolyn Conley (1996–2002)
* John DeSantis (1996–2002)
* Jay Privman (1996–2002)
* Laffit Pincay III (2002–2015)
* Bill Seward (1988–2002) Seward was voted "Top Sports Update Anchor" by the Los Angeles Daily News and can be seen on the TVG network, hosting thoroughbred horse racing coverage.
* Michelle Yu (2012–2016)
Santa Anita Simulcast Hosts
* Megan Devine (2016-2018)
Megan has appeared as an on-air analyst at TVG, Turfway Park, Ellis Park, Horse Racing Radio Network (HRRN) and was fired from Santa Anita Park in November 2018.
Racing
Graded events
The following Graded events were held at Santa Anita Park in 2022 with inaugural runnings in parenthesis.
Grade I
Grade II
Grade III
Other events
The Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita
In 2023, Santa Anita will host the Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, ...
for a record 11th time. Highlights of the previous events include:
* 1986 - Lady's Secret
Lady's Secret (April 8, 1982 – March 4, 2003) was an American Eclipse Award winning Thoroughbred horse racing, racemare that was listed in the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century. Lady's Secret was bred by Robert H. Spreen at Lucas ...
wins the Distaff
A distaff (, , also called a rock"Rock." ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989.), is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly use ...
on her way to becoming Horse of the Year
* 1993 - Arcangues
Arcangues (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France in what was formerly the Basque province of Labourd.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Arcanguais'' or ''Ar ...
wins the Classic
A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...
in the biggest upset in the race's history
* 2003 - Trainer Richard Mandella
Richard Eugene Mandella (born November 5, 1950 in Altadena, California), is a Thoroughbred horse trainer and a member of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame.
Mandella's father, a blacksmith, introduced him to horses at an early age and while still in ...
wins a record four races including the Classic
* 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
- Overseas based runners win five races including the Classic
* 2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
- Zenyatta
Zenyatta (foaled April 1, 2004) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Breeders' Cup Classic and Breeders' Cup Distaff and 19 of her 20 starts. She was the 2010 American Horse of the Year, and Champion Older Female in 2008, ...
becomes the first (and to date only) mare to win the Classic
* 2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
- Wise Dan
Wise Dan (foaled February 20, 2007) is a champion American Hall of Fame and Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. He is the first horse to win the same three Eclipse Awards in consecutive years, having been named American Horse of the ...
wins the Mile
The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...
on his way to a Horse of the Year title
* 2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
- Wise Dan goes back-to-back
* 2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
- Bayern
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
upsets California Chrome
California Chrome (foaled February 18, 2011) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2014 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and 2016 Dubai World Cup. He was the 2014 and 2016 American Horse of the Year. In 2016, he surpassed ...
and Shared Belief
Shared Belief (February 15, 2011 – December 3, 2015) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old, he was undefeated in three races, including the Hollywood Prevue Stakes and Los Alamitos Futurity, and was named the American Champ ...
in the Classic
* 2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
- Beholder wins the Distaff in a thrilling stretch battle over the previously undefeated Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...
.
* 2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
- Arrogate
Arrogate (April 11, 2013June 2, 2020) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2016 Travers Stakes in a track record time in his first stakes appearance. He then won the Breeders' Cup Classic and was named the American Champion Three- ...
wins the Classic in a thriller over the heavy favorite California Chrome
California Chrome (foaled February 18, 2011) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2014 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and 2016 Dubai World Cup. He was the 2014 and 2016 American Horse of the Year. In 2016, he surpassed ...
.
* 2019 - Storm the Court upsets the field to win the Juvenile by a neck at 45-1.
Event venue
Santa Anita Park is also an event venue, most notably for popular food festival 626 Night Market
626 Night Market is an annual night market food festival located in the 626 area code region of San Gabriel Valley, northeast of Los Angeles.
Its events are held 10 times a year from May to September. Each 3-day night market event draws up to ...
. Since 2013, the event draws up to 100,000 attendees per 3-day weekend, four times a year during the summer. More than 250 vendors sell food, merchandise, crafts and art. There is also a stage with live music, an Art Walk, cosplay contest and b-boy
Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...
dance competitions.
Arcadia High School holds its annual graduation ceremony at Santa Anita Park during the month of June and holds alumni reunions during September and October.
See also
* ''Luck'' (TV series)
*Santa Anita Ordnance Training Center
The Santa Anita Ordnance Training Center also called Camp Santa Anita was training center built for World War II. Santa Anita Ordnance Training Center Rifle Range was built is what is now the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the Angeles ...
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Santa Anita Park Official Website
Oak Tree Racing Association Official Website
Horses finishing the California Breeders' Stakes Race at Santa Anita Park, 1938
at the Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
.
{{Authority control
Horse racing venues in California
Stronach Group
Internment camps for Japanese Americans
Sports venues in Greater Los Angeles
Venues of the 1984 Summer Olympics
Olympic equestrian venues
San Gabriel Valley
Art Deco architecture in California
Sports venues on the National Register of Historic Places in California
National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
1934 establishments in California
Sports venues completed in 1934