Santa Anita Race Track Opens

Santa Anita opened its winter meet on Dec. 26 with anxious and excited horse racing fans ready to try their luck. The 72 day meeting will conclude April 9.
– Photo by Terry Miller

Santa Anita Park has announced that the prestigious Grade I, $300,000 American Oaks, which was most recently run in May 2015, will now be run on Dec. 31. Santa Anita’s 72-day winter stand will conclude on April 9 and be followed by its Spring Meet, which will run from April 14 through July 4.

A blockbuster card consisting of four graded stakes will await fans on opening day, with a pair of Grade I, $300,000 races at seven furlongs–the Malibu for 3-year-old colts and geldings and the La Brea, for 3-year-old fillies, highlighting a ten-race program. The Grade II, $200,000 Mathis Brothers Mile (turf) and the Grade III, $100,000 San Simeon Handicap, at 6.5 furlongs down the hillside turf course, will round out the graded stakes action.

Heading Santa Anita’s Grade I Winter Meet stakes lineup is the $1 million Santa Anita Derby, which has produced 17 Kentucky Derby winners, and will be run on April 8. The Grade I, $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap, to be contested for the 81st time, will be run on March 11.

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