Five GI Stakes Anchor Santa Anita Spring Meet
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Photo: Benoit Photography
With the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita (gr. I) to serve as the highlight, Santa Anita Park's 2016 spring meeting is set to run May 5 through July 10.
The track has scheduled 34 stakes, with 16 graded events that include five grade I races.
The spring meet will begin with the $200,000 Royal Heroine Stakes (gr. IIT) for older fillies and mares at a mile on turf May 5, and will be followed on Kentucky Oaks Day, May 6, by the mile turf American Stakes (gr. III) for 3-year-olds and up.
On Kentucky Derby Day, May 7, Santa Anita will card the grade III, mile Senorita Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf and the $75,000 Desert Code Stakes for 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs down the hillside turf course.
The track's five grade I events:
—May 30, $300,000 Gamely Stakes, for fillies and mares, at 1 1/8 miles on turf;
—June 4, $400,000 Vanity Stakes, for fillies and mares, at one mile;
—June 4, $400,000 Shoemaker Mile (turf), for 3-year-olds and up;
—June 25, $300,000 Triple Bend Stakes, 3-year-olds and up at seven furlongs; and
—June 25, $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita, 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/4 miles.
Santa Anita's complete 2016 Spring Stakes schedule can be viewed at santaanita.com.