The 84th Santa Anita Winter-Spring Meet starts Saturday and features five graded stakes races on the 11-race card. “The Great Race Place” will run races on a Friday-Sunday schedule with some four-day race weeks through June 20.
No fans will be allowed at the track for the foreseeable future of the Santa Anita Winter-Spring Meet. Fans can watch and wager on the races at TVG starting Dec. 26, with a big handle expected. The popular Rainbow Six returns for big potential payouts in addition to a 50-cent Early Pick 5 and player-friendly 14 percent takeout rate.
The opening day All-Stakes Late Pick 5 Twinspires.
- Race 4: $200,000 Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile – 1 mile for 3-year-olds on the turf
- Race 7: $200,000 Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes – 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds and up
- Race 8: $300,000 Grade 1 La Brea Stakes – 7 furlongs for 3-year-old fillies
- Race 9: $300,000 Grade 1 American Oaks – 1 1/14 miles for 3-year-old fillies on the downhill turf
- Race 10: $300,000 Grade 1 Malibu Stakes – 7 furlongs for 3-year-olds
- Race 11: $75,000 Lady of Shamrock Stakes – 1 mile for 3-year-old fillies on the turf
Road to the Kentucky Derby
The Santa Anita Winter-Spring Meet will include 90 stakes races, 65 graded stakes and 10 Grade 1 races. Included are the following Road to the Kentucky Derby prep races that award qualifying points to the top four finishers.
- Jan. 2: Grade 3 Sham Stakes
- Jan. 30: Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes
- March 6: Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes
- April 3: Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby
Changes at Santa Anita Winter-Spring Meet
Saturday will mark the debut of the track’s new turf chute that can handle races up to 6 1/2 furlongs. The new turf chute has a dirt crossover early in the race and the horses have been running on level ground.
Sprint races on the historic downhill course were suspended last spring in the midst of the horse fatality crisis. The previous course had a dirt crossover at the end of the hill. Santa Anita has not ruled out using the downhill course for select sprint races.
