Santa Anita Park has canceled live racing on Sunday, Jan. 4 as the final round of strong storms pushes out of the Southern California area, the track said in a press release on Sunday morning.
The storm has dropped more than 10 inches of rain on the Arcadia, California, track since an atmospheric river began pummeling the West Coast Dec. 23.
“The weather is set to improve significantly by Monday, and we don't have any rain in sight for the next 10 days or so,” said Santa Anita Park's General Manager Nate Newby. “We are grateful for the support of our stakeholders these last two weeks. It hasn't been easy, but the safety of the horses will always come first. We're looking forward to building on the strong momentum from our first few days and getting back to business.”
Racing returns to Santa Anita Park on Thursday, which is the first of two announced makeup days due to the rain cancelations. First post time on Thursday will be 12 noon and will feature two turf stakes races. The track has also added Thursday, Jan. 15 to the racing schedule.
Both the Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old fillies and GIII Las Flores Stakes for older fillies and mares will be run next weekend at Santa Anita after being postponed because of rain.
The seven-furlong Santa Ynez will be run on Saturday, Jan. 10 with the seven-furlong Las Flores going a day later.
In addition to the rescheduled Santa Ynez, Saturday's card will also feature the Grade II San Vicente Stakes for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs. The San Vicente begins the road to the GI Santa Anita Derby. Entries for the Santa Ynez, San Vicente and the rest of Saturday's card will be drawn on Monday.
Joining the Las Flores on next Sunday's card will be the GIII Las Cienegas Stakes for older fillies and mares at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course. That card will be set on Tuesday.
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