Santa Anita Park

How many millions have they put into Santa Anita's surface? Any how many millions have they lost in race days lost?

Ron Charles was on HRTV saying an announcement will be coming "very soon about what the future surface at Santa Anita will be."

Thanks, mdracing69. I don't see a big payout here but we can all keep our tickets very narrow at the top to keep the investment down. I am liking #9 Thomas Baines more and more. Not for the win spot but even more solid in the second hole at a great price. Gomez is off in favor of #1 Alfarabi but Tyler Baze picks up the mount for O'Neill. I think he's going to appreciate the firm, low cut turf at Santa Anita as he makes his second start off the layoff. According to BRIS, other than Alfarabi, he's the only horse in the field that ran a a late pace number in the 90's after posting an 80+ pace at the second call. You know he'll improve second out and with so many others stretching out to a route for the first time...many of those will post lively early fractions but have nothing left in the stretch. Nice set up for this closer.

I've been to Santa Anita a few times, all in the same weekend, and was mesmerized by the setting. If only the infield were a little more scenic, I think it could rival the setting in Saratoga.

Nice of Santa Anita to honor the 2009 Horse of the Year!

10 Reasons why Rachel should be Horse of the Year (by Brian Zipse)

1) Geography - In many years, where a horse raced does not matter, but when there is such an interesting race as this, it needs to be taken into consideration. We are after all, looking for our National Champion. Zenyatta raced all of her races in the friendly confines of Southern California, meanwhile, Rachel Alexandra raced in six different states and at seven different tracks during 2009.
Advantage : Rachel Alexandra

2) Beyer Ratings - Like them or not, they are the best tool in American racing to place a quantitative standard as to how well a horse performed in a certain race. Zenyatta’s Beyers from this year are 103, 104, 99, 97, and 112. Rachel Alexandra’s Beyers are 100, 103, 101, 108, 108, 111, 116, and 109. Her average Beyer rating in the last five races (all Grade 1’s) is 110.4, which is higher than every Beyer rating than Zenyatta has ever run until her last race.
Advantage : Rachel Alexandra

3) Grade 1’s - A sheer numbers comparison: Zenyatta won four Grade 1 races in 2009, while Rachel Alexandra won five Grade 1 races this year.
Advantage : Rachel Alexandra

4) Overcoming Adversity - While many races tactically set up well for the two heroines, there were three races that notably did not. Rachel Alexandra overcame a 13 post and a speed dual (something never done in my lifetime) to win an American classic, the Preakness, by one length. She overcame a rabbit, and a fresh wave of challengers every step of the way to beat older males and win the Woodward by a head over Macho Again. In the Clement Hirsch Stakes, Zenyatta was too far behind a dawdling early pace and still managed to get up and win by a head. Her head victory was over a horse named Anabaa’s Creation.
Advantage : Rachel Alexandra

5) Total Races - Both horses were undefeated and raced exclusively in stakes races, so I will side with the horse that ran eight times compared to the horse who only ran five times.
Advantage : Rachel Alexandra

6) Versatility - Rachel Alexandra raced on seven different dirt surfaces (every track is a little different) and raced equally well on both dry and wet surfaces throughout the year. Zenyatta only raced on fast Pro-Ride surfaces and was scratched out of the Louisville Distaff due to an earlier rain. By race time the track was listed as good.
Advantage : Rachel Alexandra

7) Margins of Victory - Rachel Alexandra’s average margin of victory in her eight races this year, all stakes wins, was more than 8 lengths, including a 6 length win over our soon to be champion 3-year-old colt, Summer Bird. In many of these victories, she was being eased up before the wire. Zenyatta’s average margin of victory in her five races, all stakes wins, was just over 1 ¼ lengths.
Advantage : Rachel Alexandra

8) Horses Beaten - While it is true that both fantastic horses have beaten many top horses, especially in the BC Classic, Preakness, Haskell, and Woodward, one has beaten far more stakes winners, graded stakes winners and Grade 1 winners than the other one this year.
Advantage : Rachel Alexandra

9) Aggressiveness of Campaign - Zenyatta gained leaps and bounds when she became the first female ever to win the BC Classic in 26 runnings, but combined with her four relatively easy races prior, she falls short of the campaign waged by Rachel Alexandra, who ran against the boys on three different occasions. She became the first female ever to win the Woodward, the first female winner in 85 years of the Preakness, and only the second filly ever to win the Haskell.
Advantage : Rachel Alexandra

10) Quality Victories - Zenyatta has the biggest win of all, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but that one race does not trump all the prestigious victories that Rachel Alexandra racked up this year. The Kentucky Oaks, Preakness, Haskell, and Woodward are four of the most important races on the U.S. racing schedule. In elite races on the American landscape the sco

This is a problem... competing with the racino purses. And it's no good for racing. However, I don't think SoCal purses are meager... it's because SoCal's stakes structure is so high... probably why Santa Anita is backing off some stakes.

You know that after that horrible attendance at Santa Anita last year, the Breeders' Cup would love for any excuse to move to Churchill Downs, where a 75,000+ strong crowd is almost guaranteed. Too bad for BC, the picked absolutely the wrong years to both move to Los Angeles and jack up the prices!!! They just don't get that a lot of these horseplayers are out there firing and maybe lose 1k, 2k or more on the event. So you don't want to drop $1,500 on the plane ticket and hotel and $500 more on the tickets, and be out $2,000 before the betting starts!!!

I could be proven dead wrong, but I just don't understand why Pioneer of the Nile is considered a top three contender for the win spot on Derby Day. Yes, he keeps winning races, but all on synthetic surfaces in very slow times. Granted, every major prep in CA has been subject to super slow pace configurations. However, you would expect to see more explosiveness late in those races by the "Pioneer" as we saw when Colonel John was faced with the same (6th place finish in the 2008 Derby). Even Garrett Gomez was quoted after the Santa Anita Derby, that Pioneer "just seems to lollygag on me". Much fuss has been made about I Want Revenge's success after he left CA and raced on dirt. In that case, I Want Revenge's trainer, Jeff Mullins mentioned his colt's on-going struggle with the SA sythetic surface saying that his horse "just spun his wheels" and could never get proper traction. Better to look at other horses that shipped from CA to see how their form changed when switching to a dirt surface...horses like Jeranimo or Massone. None of them moved up significantly speed rating wise when switched to dirt. Let's face it, I Want Revenge hated synthetic. The turf-bred Pioneer of the Nile prefers it and the California crop this year is weak. Let him beat me, but Pioneer of the Nile won't finish in the top four come Derby Day.