Santa Anita Reopens Renovated Track

No grand ceremony, no cutting of the ribbon, no fanfare -- it was a balmy Arcadian morning that heralded the opening of Santa Anita Racecourse’s new main track to training Tuesday – its fourth new surface in five years.

So it was understandable if horsemen at the racecourse were reticent as to whether this time the right formula had been found, with many wanting to see how the surface fares over the next few weeks before cementing their reaction.

Nevertheless, those trainers whose horses made their way to the new track the first morning – which is restricted to just light training until Thursday when the first workouts are scheduled – were encouraged by the early vital signs.

“I’ve taken all of mine on it this morning and it feels a lot deeper, which it needed to be,” said trainer Anthony Saavedra, who also exercises many of his own horses. “There was just too much clay on the old track … but they seem to get over this one just fine.”

The high clay content in the previous surface was widely considered to be the overriding problem dogging the track during its winter-spring meet, and tests taken in January of this year showed that the clay and silt content rose as high as 19 percent.

Over the past two weeks, the top six inches (more than 17,000 tons of material) were removed from the track and taken to the adjacent parking lot where sand was added to dilute the clay content. The new surface is expected to comprise 87.5% sand, 4.5% clay and 8% silt.

Fellow trainers Janet Armstrong and Rafael Becerra sent a small squadron of horses to the main track this morning, and both expressed cautious optimism with the results thus far. Armstrong said that she had sent 12 horses to the main track to jog, and after taking her own pony on it for a spin, reported that it “rode pretty good.”

Karen Headley, assistant to her father, Bruce, was a little more fulsome in her praise.

“All of the riders who went to the track this morning came back saying that it felt great,” said Headley. “Anything natural is the way to go,” she added, in reference to the two synthetic surfaces that were installed at Santa Anita between 2007-2010.

Headley added that “consistency” was one of her main concerns regarding the new surface, but that she fully expected to work some horses on it as soon as management gave their consent to horsemen.

Equally as satisfied, and understandably relieved as work on the mammoth project draws to a close, was Ted Malloy, track consultant to MI Developments, which owns the racecourse.

“Everyone loved it. Nobody’s lost the race,” Malloy said. “As far as I’m concerned it’s safe.”

Malloy said that while he is heading home to Florida tomorrow night, he will be in regular contact with the track staff at Santa Anita. He is also planning to return to three days before racing resumes this fall.

Racing is tentatively scheduled to resume Sept. 29, but until then track officials face an anxious wait. All previous track renovations at Santa Anita began with similarly encouraging reports. A more accurate picture will become evident in the upcoming weeks and months.

Daniel Ross works as an exercise rider at the Santa Anita track. This story was done with the cooperation of Santa Anita.