Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races, including both the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap. It has also hosted the year-end Breeders' Cup races eleven times, more than any other racetrack. In 1984, Santa Anita was the site of equestrian events at the 1984 Olympics and will host once again in 2028.1984 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 1. Part 1. pp. 117–20. Since 2011, the Stronach Group are the current owners.
History
"Rancho Santa Anita" was owned originally by former San Gabriel Mission Mayor-Domo, Claudio Lopez, and named after a family member, "Anita Cota". The ranch was later acquired by rancher Hugo Reid, a Scotsman. The property's most widely known owner was probably multimillionaire Lucky Baldwin, a successful businessman in San Francisco who greatly enhanced his wealth through an investment in the famous Comstock Lode. Baldwin became a successful breeder and owner of Thoroughbred racehorses and in 1904 built a racetrack adjacent to the present site. On February 4, 1909 the California State Legislature passed an anti-racetrack gambling bill known as the Walker–Otis Law. Similar in its goal to New York State's 1908 Hart–Agnew Law, the California law resulted in the permanent closing of the Baldwin racetrack. In 1912 the racing facility burned to the ground.
In 1933, California legalized parimutuel wagering and several investor groups worked to open racetracks. In the San Francisco area, a group headed by Dr. Charles H "Doc" Strub was having trouble locating a site. In the Los Angeles area, a group headed by movie producer Hal Roach was in need of further funds. These two groups combined and the newly formed Los Angeles Turf Club opened the present day track on Christmas Day in 1934, making it the first formally-established racetrack in California. Architect Gordon Kaufmann designed its various buildings in a combination of Colonial Revival and a type of Art Deco known as Streamline Moderne, painted primarily in Santa Anita's signature colors of Persian Green and Chiffon Yellow.
In February 1935, the first Santa Anita Handicap was run. The race's $100,000 purse, largest of any race ever in the United States until that time, produced its nickname the Big 'Cap.
In its heyday, the track's races attracted such stars as Betty Grable, Lana Turner, Edgar Bergen, Jane Russell, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, and Esther Williams, among others. Bing Crosby, Joe E. Brown, Al Jolson, and Harry Warner were all stockholders.
In 1940, Seabiscuit won the Santa Anita Handicap in his last start.
In 1942, racing at Santa Anita was suspended due to the Second World War. Santa Anita was used as an assembly center for Japanese Americans excluded from the West Coast. For several months in 1942, over 18,000 people lived in horse stables and military-style barracks constructed on the site, including actor George Takei, then a young boy. After the track reopened in 1945, it went through the postwar years with prosperity. A downhill turf course, which added a distinctly European flair to racing at Santa Anita, was added in 1953.
Due to its proximity to Los Angeles, Santa Anita has traditionally been associated with the film and television industries. The racetrack sequences in the Marx Brothers 1937 classic A Day at the Races were filmed there, and The Story of Seabiscuit with Shirley Temple was filmed on location in 1949. It was also featured in A Star Is Born (1937).Alleman, Richard (2013). Hollywood: The Movie Lover's Guide: The Ultimate Insider Tour of Movie L.A. Crown/Archetype. Page 471. . Several stars, including Bing Crosby, Spencer Tracy, Errol Flynn, Alex Trebek, and MGM mogul, Louis B. Mayer, have owned horses that raced at the park.
The 1958 Santa Anita Derby was attended by 61,123 people, making the attendance that day a record crowd. They had come to watch Silky Sullivan come from 28 lengths off the pace and win—going away.
The 1960s brought about a major renovation of Santa Anita Park, including a much-expanded grandstand as well as major seating additions. In 1968, Del Mar Racetrack relinquished its dates for a fall meeting. A group of horsemen including Clement Hirsch intervened and established the not-for-profit Oak Tree Racing Association. Oak Tree had no facilities of its own and rented Santa Anita Park for its first autumn meeting in 1969. The Oak Tree Association became the operator of the autumn meet at Santa Anita Park. This meet usually ran from the end of September until early November. Many key stakes races were held during the Oak Tree Meeting, including many preps to the Breeders' Cup races. The Oak Tree meet relocated to Hollywood Park for 2010"Oak Tree Headed for Hollywood After All", The Blood-Horse, August 19, 2010. but the California Horse Racing Board awarded the fall dates to Santa Anita in its own right in 2011. This prompted a renaming of many stakes races held at the fall meeting that were formerly associated with Oak Tree. For example, the Norfolk, Goodwood, Yellow Ribbon, Lady's Secret, and Oak Leaf, were renamed at the FrontRunner, Awesome Again, Rodeo Drive, Zenyatta and Chandelier respectively.
Prosperity continued at Santa Anita throughout the 1970s and the 1980s. In 1984, Santa Anita hosted the equestrian events at the 1984 Olympics,1984 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 1. Part 1. pp. 117-20. and in 1985, the track set an attendance record of 85,527 people on Santa Anita Handicap Day. Recognizing the potential revenue boon to the State of California, the California Legislature expanded off track betting, bring operating betting parlors within closer driving distance of the race-day tracks. While the Santa Anita meeting could still draw large crowds, attendance had decreased by a third. Only 56,810 people were at the park for Santa Anita Derby Day 2007 to witness a Grade I event.
In 1997, Santa Anita Park was acquired by Meditrust when it purchased the Santa Anita Companies for its unique real estate investment trust paired share corporate structure. Following the elimination of the special tax treatment accorded Pair Share REITs, Meditrust sold the track to Magna Entertainment Corp. In 2006, Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita cohosted the Sunshine Millions, a day of competition with $3.6 million in stakes races between horses bred in the State of Florida and those bred in the State of California.
At Santa Anita, harness racing was also conducted.
At Santa Anita Park's European-style paddock there are statues of jockeys George Woolf, Johnny Longden, Bill Shoemaker and Laffit Pincay Jr. plus a memorial bust of announcer Joe Hernandez and one of trainer Charlie Whittingham with his dog, Toby. There is also a lifesize bronze of Seabiscuit in the walking ring at Seabiscuit Court; a similar bronze of John Henry was unveiled near the Seabiscuit statue in December 2009. Buried near the paddock is Emperor of Norfolk, the best horse Lucky Baldwin ever owned, along with three other great Baldwin horses: Volante, Silver Cloud, and Rey El Santa Anita, all four of them winners of the prestigious American Derby. In 2012, a lifesize bronze of Zenyatta was unveiled prior to the running of the race renamed in her honor.
Since 1950, Santa Anita Park has annually presented the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award to a rider who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack.
South African native Trevor Denman served as Santa Anita's full-time announcer from the 1983 Oak Tree meet until his retirement from the position in 2015. Denman is noted for his calls beginning with "And awaaay they go..." and his distinctive gravelly voice. Queensland, Australia native Michael Wrona was chosen to succeed Denman in March 2016. At the end of 2018, The Stronach Group named Frank Mirahmadi as Santa Anita's announcer.
Starting in 2014, Santa Anita began adding more racing cards due to the closure of Hollywood Park Racetrack, hosting Hollywood Park's old spring dates from late April until June.
In mid-March 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, racing resumed without fans; two weeks later, racing was suspended until May 15, 2020.
During the January 2025 Southern California wildfires Santa Anita's parking lots were used to distribute relief supplies to affected residents, as well as for emergency staging for agencies including Southern California Edison. Three days of live racing were cancelled due to fire and air quality concerns, as the track lay near to the Eaton Fire.
In April 2025 the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) announced that Santa Anita Park had been selected to host the equestrian events for the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Horse fatalities of 2019 In early March 2019, all races were cancelled following the 21st fatality of the winter season; racing resumed late in the month. Races were postponed so that the dirt surface could be studied. Seven of the 21 deaths occurred during races on the dirt oval with nine happening during training on dirt and the others occurring on the turf track.
Thirty-seven horses died at the facility in 2019, causing the above noted suspension of races, and resulting in the California Racing Commission considering rule changes.Ben Bergman, "Racing Continues at Santa Anita Park Amid Mounting Pressure to Suspend Competition After Spate of Horse Deaths", KQED, 5 April 2019."Santa Anita racetrack won't close after 2 more horses die, 29 overall since December," CBS News, 10 June 2019."33rd horse dies at Santa Anita Park since December," KABC-TV, 6 October 2019.Libby Cathey, "Another racehorse dies at Santa Anita Park, raising death toll to 35 since December," ABCNews, 26 October 2019."15-1 longshot Mongolian Groom fatally injured in Breeders’ Cup Classic ," Associated Press, 3 November 2019. Following the death of the 30th horse in late June, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who had trained four of the horses that died, was banned forever by the Stronach Group from all of its facilities."Santa Anita Park begins winter-spring season amid protest," ABC 7 29 December 2019.
Santa Anita Assembly Center
In February 1942, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized military commanders to exclude "any or all persons" from certain areas in the name of national defense, the Western Defense Command began ordering Japanese Americans living on the West Coast to present themselves for "evacuation" from the newly created military zones. Seventeen temporary "assembly centers" were designated to house the evicted population until construction on the more permanent and isolated internment camps was finished. Most, like the Santa Anita Assembly Center, were converted from former uses like racing tracks or fairgrounds.Linke, Konrad. "Santa Anita (detention facility)" Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2014-07-25.