Santa Anita Derby Diaries: A Warm Welcome

I have a hard time choosing my favorite racetracks and events (a truly wonderful problem to have) but I have to say that Arcadia, California’s Santa Anita Park and its signature Derby rank pretty highly on my list.
One of the reasons that I love it here so much is that you can visit the track early in the morning and see some of the best racehorses (and their affiliated humans) in the nation. Also, Clocker’s Corner, the area where people congregate to watch horses work out, is just incredibly beautiful to behold.

I spotted some serious horse racing luminaries today at Clocker’s Corner. Bob Baffert is a major trainer, who will be running the Santa Anita Derby favorite Dortmund on Saturday.

It’s not just people who flock to Santa Anita and Clocker’s Corner in the morning to watch the horses work; there a ton of dogs here, too, which makes the place my idea of heaven on Earth.

I also saw some lovely pony horses, those kind equine souls whose job is to escort the high-strung racehorses around the track:

Horse racing’s royalty was out in full effect today; I spotted potential Kentucky Derby favorite American Pharoah galloping over the racetrack:

Santa Anita Derby favorite Dortmund was shining like a copper penny: 

But the highlight of the morning to me was seeing Cozmic One, the 3-year-old son of legendary racehorse Zenyatta. He’s a big, strapping colt, and despite his size he’s lithe and athletic. He looks a bit like his famous mother, too, so it was really neat to see him training this morning.

Oh, my other favorite part about this morning? Enjoying a delicious breakfast with the San Gabriel Mountains looming over me. I told you that Santa Anita Park is heaven!