After canceling the past two racing days because of adverse weather and track
conditions, Santa Anita resumed racing on Saturday, Sunshine Millions Day. The
track maintenance crew performed significant work on the embattled Cushion Track
surface, which has been plagued by drainage problems, to get it back in shape.
“They took off about two inches (off the top of the surface) and added some
of the original Cushion Track back on,” Santa Anita President Ron Charles said.
“The track seems in excellent condition. David Flores worked the first horse,
came back and said the track feels great.”
“The track felt good,” Flores said after working the claiming mare Beau Geni
(Beau Genius) a half-mile for trainer Mark Glatt in :47 2/5. “She was cruising.
The horse felt great. I never felt any bad steps at all. The track feels even
and that’s what we were concerned about, if it was even. It feels pretty good.
They did a good job.”
Horses were back training on the synthetic main track at about 9:30 a.m.
(PST) Saturday morning. Among them were newly crowned champions MIDNIGHT LUTE
(Real Quiet) and INDIAN BLESSING (Indian Charlie), who both galloped for trainer
Bob Baffert.
Although Santa Anita overcame the obstacles to run on Saturday, the forecast
calls for another storm that could endanger Sunday’s card. Another deluge could
also affect plans to add a polymer binding manufactured by the Australian firm
Pro-Ride to the surface next week.
“The forecast is horrible,” Charles said. “The forecast is for four inches of
rain starting about seven, eight o’clock tonight. Obviously, if that happens,
we’d cancel racing tomorrow and it probably jeopardizes the chance of starting
to put in the polymer and the fibers (to assist in proper drainage).”
Asked if the status of racing was day to day, Charles said, “It absolutely
is.”
Santa Anita had planned to close the track Monday and Thursday to add the
aforementioned polymer. Santa Anita’s regular dark days are Tuesday and
Wednesday, which would provide four consecutive days to try to alleviate the
problem.
Meanwhile, horsemen were managing as best they could.
“This weather sets us back,” said John Sadler, who was tied for the training
lead with Doug O’Neill through 18 racing days. Each had 10 wins, Sadler from
just 40 starters. “But we’re fortunate in that our barn is set up at both Santa
Anita and Hollywood Park, and if we have to send our horses across town to
train, we’ll send them across town.”