Santa Anita

Southern California News Group's veteran turf writer Art Wilson died early Sunday morning near his home in Victorville, California. He was 71. Wilson, who gallantly fought a form of blood cancer for more than 10 years, was scheduled to attend Sunday Winter Corgi Nationals at Santa Anita, but had to be transported to St. Mary's Hospital in Apple Valley late Saturday afternoon and subsequently passed away due to heart failure. First introduced to racing by his late father, Wilson fell in love with the game as a railbird and relished...

Students who are currently enrolled in the Cal Poly Pomona Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences Equine Studies Minor program will have the opportunity to intern at Santa Anita in a partnership announced Sunday. "We are truly excited about this new partnership with Cal Poly Pomona," said Santa Anita Senior Vice President and General Manager Nate Newby. "This is a tremendous way for us to introduce up-and-coming young professionals, as well a large group of highly motivated Cal Poly students, to our industry and best veterinary practices in Thoroughbred racing....

With a forecast calling for significant rainfall, officials at Santa Anita Park have canceled Monday's Presidents' Day program at the track. The nine-race program on Sunday will proceed as scheduled, with a first post at 12:30 p.m. PT. The track will remain open Monday for simulcasting in the Grandstand Paddock Room beginning at 10 a.m., with free parking and admission. Races carded for Monday, including the $100,000 Tiznow S., will be offered as extras on the overnights for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 23-25. Similarly rainy conditions forced the cancellation...

Popular California-bred Brickyard Ride (h, 7, Clubhouse Ride--Brickyard Helen, by Southern Image) has been retired at age seven after suffering a minor injury in a workout at Santa Anita late last month, trainer Craig Lewis said. "It was nothing serious," Lewis said. "But Father Time is catching up with him." Brickyard Ride won 13-of-31 starts, including eight stakes, and banked $925,477 for owner-breeder Alfred A. "Sonny" Pais. His resume includes a trio of graded stakes victories--the 2021 GII San Carlos S. and the GIII Kona Gold S. in both 2022...

A time honored tradition dating back more than five decades, the 54th annual Santa Anita Jockeys vs. Holy Angels Middle School Charity Basketball Game will be held Monday, Feb. 26 at La Salle High School in Pasadena, Ca. The La Salle High gymnasium will open to the public at 6 p.m. and tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Admission tickets will be available on-site and a $5 donation will generate proceeds to the Permanently Disabled Jockey Fund (PDJF) and Holy Angels athletics. A distinguished group of Hall of Fame jockeys...

The third annual Horse Racing Women's Summit will be held at Santa Anita Park Sept. 25-26 the group announced Thursday, with satellite events at Keeneland, Saratoga, Del Mar and the 2024 Global Symposium on Racing and Gaming. The HRWS, founded in 2022, brings speakers, networking opportunities and events together from across the horse racing industry. "Our executive committee and volunteers are working hard to pull together another series of great events across the country in addition to growing the membership and tackling the other priorities identified at the 2023 Summit,"...

Last June, Pat Cummings, executive director of the National Thoroughbred Alliance and former executive director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, issued a stark warning about the encroaching impacts from Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) to the men and women trying to forge a living through horse racing in the Golden State. CAW players constitute a small group of mostly anonymous, high-volume gamblers with an outsized impact on the betting markets--including in California--due to their use of sophisticated wagering technologies and the inducements offered to them in the form of attractive rates...

The Santa Anita stewards on Sunday issued trainer Dan Blacker a 90-day suspension and a $15,000 fine for 527 separate incidents of failing to undertake the necessary pre-workout veterinary examination reporting process for horses in his care. The three-month suspension is scheduled to run from Feb. 26, 2024, to May 25, 2024. During that time, Blacker will be denied access to all licensed premises in California. Last October, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) charged Blacker with failing to comply with regulations requiring that a horse undergoes a veterinary exam...

GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day) and GI Pegasus World Cup victor National Treasure (Quality Road) are scheduled to leave Santa Anita for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Tuesday in advance of their expected next starts in the Saudi Cup Feb. 24. Per Santa Anita Stable Superintendent Jeff Metz, Richard Mandella will send Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) and potentially Planetario (Brz) (Il Doge {Brz}) for starts on the Saudi Cup undercard. After spending nearly 12 hours in the holding barn at Santa Anita, the Saudi-bound contingent will leave for...

Looking every bit a 'TDN Rising Star', Kinza (Carpe Diem) stepped up in class, posted a second-consecutive 96 Beyer and took home her first graded win with a professional gate-to-wire performance at 'The Great Race Place' on Saturday afternoon. To kick start her career over the same surface Dec. 29, the chestnut became a meteoric star when she won by an eye-catching 7 1/2 lengths for trainer Bob Baffert. Putting in quality workouts since, the filly was well-supported at the windows as the 1-1 choice over rival Kopion (Omaha Beach)....

Straight No Chaser (h, 5, Speightster--Margarita Friday, by Johannesburg), unraced since posting a powerhouse, front-running victory in the GIII Maryland Sprint S. on last spring's GI Preakness S. undercard, is on the comeback trail for trainer Dan Blacker. After stopping the clock for six furlongs in a razor sharp 1:08.27 and earning a career-best 107 Beyer Speed Figure in that 7 1/2-length decision at Pimlico, an undisclosed party agreed to purchase a minority interest in the MyRacehorse colorbearer. The deal, however, was called off after a positron emission tomography (PET)...

The Tampa Road to the Kentucky Derby heats up Saturday afternoon, as a full field of 12 sophomore males is set to face the starter for the $250,000 GIII Sam F. Davis S., with 42 Kentucky Derby qualifying points (20-10-6-4-2) up for grabs. When Litigate (Blame) took out the 2023 renewal, he was giving trainer Todd Pletcher a seventh victory in the Davis, having won the race for the first time in 2006 with Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat). 'TDN Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road) will be the more-fancied of...