Santa Anita Park Announces Inaugural Autumn Meet

Arcadia race fans got good news Friday when officials announced that live racing will return in late September as part of the race track’s inaugural Santa Anita Autumn Meet. The meet, which still must be approved by the California Horse Racing Board, calls for live racing to be run over a six-week period and conclude on Nov. 6.

“We’re very excited to be able to let our fans, employees and horsemen know that live Thoroughbred racing will return to Santa Anita this autumn,” George Haines, the president of Santa Anita Park, said in a released statement. “Our inaugural Autumn Meet will provide the kind of world class racing and economic opportunity that our sport and community have come to expect at Santa Anita.”

According to track officials, the Autumn Meet will feature six Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying races, including the Lady’s Secret, the Goodwood, the Norfolk, the Oak Leaf, the Yellow Ribbon and the Ancient Title. Winners of these races will earn automatic spots in the Breeders' Cup World Championships which take place Nov. 4-5 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Santa Anita officials said that the Autumn Meet will also have a full schedule of stakes races generally consistent with the fall stakes schedule run in Southern California in previous years.