Red-Hot Opening Day at Santa Anita

Super Saturday at Santa Anita Park was one of the most highly anticipated dates on the Southern California racing calendar. Not only did Sept. 26 mark opening day of the fall meeting at Santa Anita, but it boasted five Grade 1, Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series races plus the appearance of champion Beholder, which promised to be a marquee event.
Fresh from blitzing the boys in a jaw-dropping performance in the TVG Pacific Classic Stakes, Beholder was shooting for her third straight win in the Zenyatta Stakes, with an eye cocked toward taking on the big guns in the $5-million Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland Race Course.
If you want to sample every goodie that Santa Anita has to offer on its smorgasbord of offerings, then you had better come prepared for an exhilarating 12-hour day!
My plans included breakfast overlooking the track at iconic Clockers’ Corner, followed by the popular Seabiscuit tram and walking tour. Then, it would be time to refuel, perhaps at one of the trendy food trucks visiting the infield, with an afternoon of spectacular world-class racing crowning the day.
In other words, the whole scrumptious Santa Anita enchilada!
By dawn's early light, I was making my way to “Rosie’s place” at Clockers’ Corner, which has been serving hearty breakfasts to hungry horsemen and racing fans alike for what seems like forever.
Rosie and her crew were already hard at work, and the pungent smell of smokey bacon and fresh-brewed coffee mingled with the heady aroma of horse flesh. Is this heaven? There's not a bad seat in the house, and you can watch one of nature's most glorious creatures going through its early morning routine while enjoying your choice of fare and knocking plates with some of racing’s most famous faces.
 
Clockers’ Corner is open every day from 4:30-10 a.m., with full service beginning at 7 a.m.
 
Veteran trainers and ace handicappers Barry Abrams, Gary Stute, Mel Stute, and Henry Moreno gather to compare notes.

Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and schooling gate assistant H. Barnes.  
 

Morning glories at Santa Anita! 
Stuffed to the max, I was ready for the next adventure on the agenda: the Seabiscuit Tour. Paige Rickerd, operations office manager at Santa Anita, has hosted the tour for 10 years and was our knowledgeable and entertaining guide. The tram transported us to that private world within a world known as the backside, where 1,800 horses are stabled and 1,500 people are employed for their care and management. Six-hundred of these are backside residents and are housed by Santa Anita.

The Seabiscuit Tour departs every weekend race day during the season, weather permitting, from Clockers’ Corner. It does not operate on a few major race days. Tours are free and include parking and general admission for the afternoon. Reservations (call [626] 574-6677) for the 8:30 and 9:45 a.m. time slots are highly recommended.
 
Trainer Mike Puype, currently occupies Barn 38, the home of Seabiscuit during his storied career. An extra-large stall, measuring 12 x 16 feet, was constructed in order to accommodate Seabiscuit and his cow-pony companion, Pumpkin.

One of the backside’s timeless images, row upon row of work rags and leg wraps on the wash line.

Ever wonder what happens to the 97 tons of soiled straw and waste which is gathered daily from the stalls? It is transported to Watsonville, Calif., where it is used for making mushroom mulch. 

Checking out the action!
The walking portion of the tour included visits to the receiving and saddling barns and to the silks room. 

The receiving barn is the first stop for all horses on race day. Horse shoes are checked to make sure they meet specifications, and the identity of the horse is verified through papers, photos, and an upper-lip tattoo, which is a series of numbers unique to that horse. In accordance with state regulations, a blood sample also is taken from each horse for testing. 

The saddling barn is a horse’s second port of entry on race day. This is where the trainer and her/his assistants apply the racing equipment. It also is the place where young and inexperienced horses are “schooled” at a designated time period in the morning as well as during the actual races, to familiarize them with crowds and loud noises.

Located in an offshoot of the jockeys’ room, the silks room is a compact space that is a maze of colors in every hue and shade of the spectrum. More than 7,000 dazzling sets of silks hang on double racks, which reach halfway to the rafters.

A rider prepares for the day.

Neatly stacked in an office inside the jockeys’ room, five piles of named saddlecloths await, one for each horse that will compete in the five Grade 1 races. 
With the morning activities over, it was time to explore the happenings in the infield and to come to grips with the fact that it had gotten hot … really, really hot! 

 
Santa Anita has introduced a farmers’ market, which will be open every Sunday during the meet. Come to the races and leave with bags of garden-fresh veggies!   
 
Food trucks have become a staple in the infield, and there is something for everyone!

While waiting for future jockeys to arrive, the children’s ponies mowed the grass.

All was in readiness for the KROQ beer festival and free concert by Metalachi, billed as “the world’s first-and-only heavy metal mariachi band!” 
It was now time to concentrate on the blockbuster racing! With the temperature hovering near the century mark, Santa Anita stepped in to provide precautions for both horses and humans.
Several tented “cool spots” with mist-blowing fans were situated around the racetrack, and management decided that the horses would not be paraded in the paddock, but held in the saddling barn until seven minutes to post to avoid possible heat complications.  

 
Security guards seek welcome relief.
 
Riders and their ponies chill out in the tunnel leading from the paddock to the racetrack. 

Always one of the coolest places on the track is the air-conditioned Chandelier Room, with guest chefs from top-rated Los Angeles restaurants and live entertainment.
Since the Breeders’ Cup will be be held at Keeneland this year, and not Santa Anita, this was our golden opportunity to watch some of the prime contenders in their final prep races for this year’s World Championships, and perhaps catch some stardust to scatter over the future!
The FrontRunner Stakes for 2-year-olds was the first Grade 1 race on the card. Nyquist prevailed for owner Reddam Racing and trainer Doug O'Neill. Nyquist remains unbeaten in four starts, although he had to survive an inquiry for some contact with second-place finisher Swipe during a spirited stretch duel. American Pharoah won this race last year on his way to the Triple Crown.
 
Nyquist in the winners’ circle following his victory in the FrontRunner Stakes.

Third time was not the charm for runner-up Swipe, who has now finished second to Nyquist in three straight races.  
The Zenyatta Stakes for fillies and mares 3 years old and older featured the magnificent Beholder, who has been moving like a mare on a mission lately. Not since the days of Zenyatta has a mare engendered so much excitement, her powerhouse run against males in the Pacific Classic was goosebumps time!
Spendthrift Farm’s queen thrilled her fans and trainer Richard Mandella with an easy 3 ¼-length win over My Sweet Addiction, and she tied Zenyatta’s record for three consecutive wins in this race, which was called the Lady's Secret Stakes prior to 2012.
 

Following hot on Beholder’s vapor trail, something bright appeared on the horizon in the Chandelier Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Songbird, an undefeated filly by Medaglia d'Oro whose intelligence and size puts her in company with the best of her class, soared high and came home a front-running winner by 4 1/2 lengths, marking her one to watch at the Longines Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and beyond. Hollendorfer trains her for Fox Hill Farms.
 
Songbird in the saddling barn prior to the Chandelier Stakes. This is a fabulous place to see the horses up close and personal! 

Presenting the trophy for the Chandelier Stakes was Karina Smirnoff (in hat), former dance partner of jockey Victor Espinoza on “Dancing With the Stars,” shown here chatting with Santa Anita’s Jodie Vella-Gregory.
The Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares, 3 years old and older, the only Grade 1 on the turf on Super Saturday, was taken in an upset by Irish-bred Photo Call, a beautifully bred 4-year-old filly by Galileo out of Group 2 winner Theann, trained by Graham Motion. Hard Not to Like, the heavy favorite, finished eighth. Elektrum, also bred in Ireland, finished second.  
 

Thumbs up from jockey Drayden Van Dyke, who kept his cool during a nerve-cruncher of a stretch drive, in which Photo Call “rocketed” through a tight hole to gain the lead and win going away.
 

The final Grade 1 race of the day, the Awesome Again Stakes for 3-year-olds and older, attracted a field of well-credentialed horses, including 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern and Grade 1 winner Hoppertunity from the Bob Baffert barn, and Hard Aces, by Hard Spun, who won the Gold Cup at Santa Anita Stakes on June 27. However, it was a lesser-known, tall son of Hard Spun who stole the show. Smooth Roller, making only his fourth career start, challenged pacesetting Bayern as the field entered the second turn and took off, winning by 5 1/4 lengths and tripling his bankroll.
Smooth Roller and jockey Tyler Baze are now ready to roll in the Breeders' Cup Classic! 
As a racing fan, these are the days you live for. Sometimes you are lucky enough to see greatness personified, sometimes you spot it in the making. On Saturday, we saw the first, and perhaps the latter, too. Any way you look at it, this Super Saturday with many key Breeders’ Cup prep races was one for the memory book.  Hot, tired, happy (but not hungry), it was time to go home.