Santa Anita Welcomes 10th Breeders’ Cup to Arcadia This Weekend

Will there be any breakout stars or controversies this weekend? – Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News

By Terry Miller

For horse racing fans living in the East and Midwest, the Breeders’ Cup World Championships is annually one of the high points of early fall, “mixing in with football, political campaigns, and the spooky rituals of Halloween as a harbinger of seasonal shift,” according to Patrick Reed of America’s Best Racing.

Despite the enormous amount of negative publicity facing horse racing this year; with particular regard to 35 equine deaths at storied Santa Anita track since December last year, the most prestigious and high-stakes two–day event kicks off at Santa Anita Park Friday.

Breeders’ Cups held at Santa Anita have produced some of the most startling, heart-pounding finishes in the event’s history including the famous Zenyatta in 2009. So don your best and most outrageous hats and gowns and head out this Friday and Saturday to see some of the most amazing thoroughbreds race for the many sought-after titles to be awarded.
“Any list of most thrilling Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita must, by order of the racing gods, include arguably the most popular thoroughbred of the 21st century. Zenyatta was already a West Coast sensation who had completely dominated the filly and mare division for a year and a half, but her name became etched in the sport’s hallowed lore when she faced males for the first time in the 2009 Classic, and decisively beat them,” according to America’s Best Racing.

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