Santa Anita’s Classic Meet kicks off the historic track’s 91st season of racing on Sunday with six graded stakes events, highlighted by the $300,000 Malibu Stakes (G1), the $300,000 La Brea Stakes (G1) and the $300,000 American Oaks (G1).
The three other $200,000 graded races – the Mathis Mile Stakes (G2), the Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes (G2), and the San Gabriel Stakes (G2) – as well as the listed Eddie Logan Stakes, lend support to the outstanding 11-race opening-day card filled with mostly full fields and exciting wagering opportunities.
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The day’s festivities were set to get underway on the track’s traditional opening day, the day after Christmas, but thanks to a pineapple express weather system, heavy rains came through California late in the week and the track wisely pushed back the first day of the season by two days.
Post time on opening day is 11 a.m. PT. Post time every day except Big ‘Cap Day, Super Bowl Sunday and Santa Anita Derby Day will be noon and switches to 12:30 daily through the meet until March 8 when the first race every day is expected to leave the gate at 1 p.m. Post time on Saturday, Jan. 3, and Sunday, Jan. 4, is 11:30 a.m.
Effective March 8 through the end of the season, post time will be 1 p.m. PT except on major event days.
Live racing will be conducted on a three-day schedule over 78 days through June 14, the Classic Meet ending on April 5 and handing off the action to the Hollywood Meeting on April 17.
Overall, 81 stakes worth $11.75 million will be offered, highlighted by the 91st running of both $400,000 Santa Anita Handicap (G1) on March 7 and the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1) on April 4. A total of 33 added-money events during the first half of the meet are graded stakes, with nearly half set to be contested over the turf.
Along with the Big ‘Cap will be the $300,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G1), the $200,000 DK Horse San Felipe Stakes (G2), a major Southern California Kentucky Derby prep, and the $300,000 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile (G1).
On Santa Anita Derby Day, 3-year-old fillies hopeful to be headed to the Kentucky Oaks will race in the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks (G2), older fillies and mares will run in the $100,000 Monrovia Stakes (G3), and two races for California-bred sophomores – the $125,000 Echo Eddie Stakes and the $125,000 Evening Jewel Stakes – will also be on offer.
Speaking of California-breds, Santa Anita will offer a total of 14 stakes restricted to runners bred in the Golden State, with five of them to be run both on California Cup Day on Jan. 17 and on California Gold Rush Day on May 23.
The 30-day Hollywood Meet will be highlighted by three graded stakes on Memorial Day (May 25) and will feature the $300,000 Gamely Stakes (G1), the Shoemaker Mile (G1) and Hollywood Gold Cup (G1).
A wide variety of betting options will greet horseplayers at Santa Anita this season. The wagering menu is designed to offer a broad range of pari-mutuel betting options with competitive takeouts that appeal to both casual and serious horseplayers.
Santa Anita maintains a low takeout of 15.43 % on $2 Win, Place and Show wagers, one of the lowest among major North American tracks, and this straight bet is available on every race, except for short fields where some wagering options are suspended. Beyond traditional Win/Place/Show wagering, players can engage in a full slate of exotic bets, including $1 Exactas, $.50 Trifectas and $.10 Superfectas on all races that meet minimum starter requirements.
Multi-race wagers are a centerpiece of the menu: $2 Daily Doubles and $1 rolling Pick 3s run throughout the card, while $.50 Pick 4s are offered on the early (races 2–5) and late parts of the card and Pick 5s are available on both the first five races and the last five.
The $1 Pick 6 on the final six races each day remains a marquee wager, with a 70/30 split between the major and minor pools, and if no ticket hits all six, the major pool may carry over.
A $1 Super High 5 on races with seven or more starters challenges bettors to pick the first five finishers in exact order with full carryover on unsolved pools. In addition to these core offerings, there are specialty wagers such as the $3 All-Turf Pick 3 linking the turf races.
During recent meets Santa Anita also featured innovative retail-only wagers such as the $1 Sunset Pick Six—a six-leg pick 6 incorporating three races from Santa Anita and three from Gulfstream Park with a low 15% takeout—and the $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5, which combine races from both tracks on days they run concurrently, and similar player-focused late Daily Double, late Pick 3 and other lower-takeout options have been highlighted.
All of these create a layered wagering experience throughout the meet and aim to generate sizable pools and competitive payouts for bettors.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
