Santa Anita Park
About Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park, also known as the "Great Race Place", opened its doors on December 25, 1934. 30,777 people attended Santa Anita Park's opening day. Its success was built on the Santa Anita Handicap, whose $100,000 purse made it the richest race in America at the time. The Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap is still held there, but now features a prize of over $1 million. The Santa Anita horse racing track is also the site of the Santa Anita Derby, run for three-year-olds each April as a prep for the Kentucky Derby.
Santa Anita Park Race Track
Santa Anita has one mile dirt main track and a seven furlong oval turf course. It is unique as it has a hillside turf course that crosses the dirt for 6 and one-half furlong turf races.
Santa Anita Race Course Schedule
Santa Anita Park opens annually on December 26, with daily horse racing continuing through late April. In addition, Santa Anita's fall meeting, presented by the Oak Tree Racing Association, takes to the race track from early October to early November every year. Live horse racing is available Wednesday through Sunday and holiday Mondays.