Santa Anita Park, Benoit Photo
SANTA ANITA TO POSTPONE OPENING DAY TO SUNDAY, DEC. 28, AHEAD OF LOOMING RAIN FORECAST
Santa Anita Park Press
The opening day of Santa Anita’s Classic Meet will be postponed for two days until Sunday, Dec. 28th, ahead of this week’s declining weather forecast.
While it is difficult to predict weather forecasts with certainty more than 48 hours in advance, the current models have an atmospheric river set to dump between significant rain on the Southern California area beginning Tuesday afternoon through late Friday.
“With the amount of rain being forecast, it’s important to make this call as early as possible to give everyone advance notice,” said Nate Newby, Santa Anita’s General Manager. “Everyone looks forward to Opening Day as it’s traditionally one of our biggest days of the year, so it’s not a decision we make lightly. But after speaking with our stakeholders, adjusting the racing schedule at this time provides the best opportunity to have a great opening to kick off the season.”
Santa Anita’s revised Opening Week schedule has live racing Sunday, Dec. 28th and Monday, Dec. 29th, returning on Wednesday, Dec. 31 (New Year’s Eve) through Sunday, Jan. 4th.
Entries for Opening Day will continue to be drawn as scheduled today, Sunday, Dec. 21, with entries for Monday, Dec. 27th, being taken on Monday, Dec. 22nd. The entry schedule for the rest of the week will be adjusted as well.
It would be the first time since the 2019-20th winter season that Santa Anita has not opened on December 26th . That year’s Dec. 28th Opening Day brought out a crowd of over 35,000 fans.
Santa Anita Park’s 89th Classic meet will be highlighted by six stakes races, including the Grade 1 Malibu and La Brea Stakes. The delay until Sunday should allow the turf races, including the three graded stakes races, to remain on the turf course for Opening Day. High quality winter turf racing has become synonymous with Santa Anita Park over the last decade.
First post time on Sunday, Dec. 28th, will be 11:00 a.m. Tickets purchased for Opening Day will be honored on Dec. 28th, with full refunds available on request.
