The 10-Minute Bugle: Santa Anita Park

Santa Anita Park provides an amazing atmosphere for racing fans. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)

They call Santa Anita Park “the Great Race Place,” and they’re not lying: A Left Coast answer to Churchill Downs, the Los Angeles-area track is easily the finest large-capacity horse-racing venue west of the Mississippi, if not the entire United States.

Set against the picturesque San Gabriel Mountains, which are typically topped by a marine layer or smog (depending on your meteorological outlook), Santa Anita is set in the true horse town of Arcadia, Calif., which, while near L.A., feels a world away, with its shabby-chic Route 66 architecture and devotion to the sport of kings. And now that Hollywood Park has been (criminally) shuttered, it no longer faces much competition for the local horseplayer’s dollar.

Since its inception in 1934, Santa Anita has hosted some of the sport’s great jockeys, including Willie Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay Jr., Chris McCarron, Gary Stevens and George “The Iceman” Woolf, who was one of Seabiscuit’s regular riders before he fell to his death during the fourth race at Santa Anita on Jan. 3, 1946. In the Oscar-nominated movie “Seabiscuit,” Woolf was portrayed by Stevens, and much of the film was shot at Santa Anita. Both Woolf and Seabiscuit are immortalized with statues at the track, which was pivotal in both of their majestic careers.

Main At-track-tions

Within the grandstand of Santa Anita, there’s a regal VIP area with sky-high ceilings called the Chandelier Room. The members-only club regularly plays hosts to celebrities — Martin Sheen, Billy Baldwin, Anjelica Houston, Joe Torre, John Elway, Wes Welker (who owns racehorses), Rob Drydek, Danny Masterson and Jaleel “Urkel” White, to name a few. 

And then there’s Jeff Goldblum.

The delightfully eccentric actor did not settle for being a mere guest in the Chandelier Room. Instead, Goldblum was booked as the musical entertainment. Doesn’t that just bring a smile to your face? If any one anecdote captures the vibe of Santa Anita — hip, sunny, self-satisfied — it’s this one. The track, a well-preserved palace drenched in yellows and greens, has floors that sparkle; if you’re looking for evidence that the sport’s live product is a decrepit husk of its former self, this isn’t the place to find it.

Nor is it the place to find dudes in dark suits puffing on cigars (head to Belmont for that). Rather, on any given Saturday, gents are apt to wear cream blazers and pearl-snapped shirts with indie-rock beards, straw fedoras and Elvis Costello shades. As for the ladies, well, it’s Southern California — they can show up in Glad bags and look fantastic, but are likelier to arrive in bright, sleeveless dresses and playfully gaudy hats.

On the gastronomical front, only in California will you find grandstand noodle and juice bars, and the Turf Terrace reuben is top-notch. On Breeders’ Cup weekend, food trucks line the infield, augmented by bouncy houses and other family-friendly fodder. And breakfast at Clockers’ Corner is not to be missed. Open to the public around sunrise each day, it’s where diners can watch horses loosen up while wolfing down scrambled eggs and O.J. alongside some of the sports’ biggest luminaries. On any given morning, you can find superstar jockeys Victor Espinoza, Mike Smith, Gary Stevens, Joe Talamo and Rafael Bejarano hanging out between workouts.

On the ground floor, Friday afternoon’s twilight card means $2 beers and hot dogs for the duration — a long, fun and cheap (provided you don’t lose your shirt on reckless exotic wagers) happy hour if there ever was one. Afterward, bands are booked into Sirona’s — basically a massive al fresco sports bar overlooking the paddock,that features a house cocktail, the Down the Stretch (Grey Goose Citron, cranberry juice and Blue Curacao), that tastes like a three-in-one bar made with alcohol.

When to Go

The caliber of racing at Santa Anita is unparalleled out west, with an epic meet that lasts from just after Christmas through the end of June — save for a week off to separate the winter/spring docket from the spring/summer proceedings. It also boasts a short fall meet which runs from late September to early November, at which point the track frequently plays host to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships (as it will again this fall). Opening Day typically features the Malibu Stakes, a Grade 1 tweener (seven furlongs) for 3-year-olds. But the shiniest showcase for horses of that age is April’s Santa Anita Derby, a race which can make or break a promising colt’s Kentucky Derby prospects. The last two horses to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown, California Chrome and I’ll Have Another, won this race, forever burying the notion that West Coast horses were ill-equipped to win the jewels back east.

Santa Anita boasts a unique auxiliary turf course in which the horses exit a starting gate that sends them on a slight decline before entering the flat main track. Also peculiar: a 1-3/4 mile turf race, which Santa Anita has in the San Juan Capistrano Handicap, run each spring. Highlights of the winter meet are the Sunshine Millions, a day’s worth of high-stakes races that are restricted to California-breds, and the Santa Anita Handicap, a premier Grade 1 for older horses, while meet’s end brings the Gold Cup, whose winner automatically qualifies for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The fall meet features six such Breeders' Cup qualifiers (five on the same Saturday in late September), capped by the Santa Anita Sprint Championship in early October.

And, of course, there’s the Breeders’ Cup: Fourteen de facto divisional championships spread over two days, which collectively constitute horse racing’s answer to Final Four weekend. As with college basketball’s biggest to-do, the Breeders’ Cup rotates venues each year. Herein, Santa Anita has emerged as a favorite locale, and is set to host the peerless action in 2014 and 2016.

Where to Eat
It requires no advanced degree to ascertain that a place called The Derby might have a strong connection to horse racing. And if the name itself doesn’t seal it, the lawn jockeys flanking the front walkway will. 

The legendary Santa Anita rider George Woolf purchased The Derby, located on the opposite side of downtown Arcadia from the track, in 1938, and set about molding it into a horseplayer’s home away from the homestretch. Dimly lit, the loungey space is classy without feeling stuffy. The walls are adorned with vintage horse-racing memorabilia, as framed cartoons of notable horsemen hang above the bar, and the red vinyl booths are high-backed and cozy. 

A few hours before post time on a Friday afternoon, a regal old woman was overheard complimenting the riesling, while a bellied-up regular pored through past performances while nursing a Scotch on the rocks. At the far side of the bar, a younger man ordered The Mike Smith—a juicy cut of hangar steak drenched in peppercorn sauce, served alongside Cajun shrimp and a pillowy boat of mashed potatoes—off a section of the menu labeled “Seabiscuit’s Favorites” and sucked down a Manhattan. It was chilled to perfection; the Iceman would most certainly approve.

For early-bird fare, Huntington Drive boasts a Denny’s with a giant windmill on its roof, but locals flock to Ray’s Grill, a no-frills formica diner with a jagged-rock exterior, watery coffee and fabulous plates of chorizo and eggs. Adding to the main drag’s nostalgic vibe is Monarch Donuts, which serves its holed carbs out of a lone window. The complete lack of seating beckons patrons to walk across the street to chow down in the sprawling splendor of Arcadia Community Park, where tranquil bands of Tai Chi practitioners share acreage with co-ed softballers, lawn bowlers, swing sets and swimmers.

Where to Drink

On the other side of a trestle from The Derby is a windowless building with a peculiar sign out front that reads Drinkers Hall of Fame. Is it a museum? A bar? It’s both, really.

Through the intimidating front doorway — there’s a separate rear entrance, where the establishment’s full name, Miss Holly’s Drinkers Hall of Fame, is spelled out — is a small corridor with horse schwag on the wall. Pass through it, and you’re greeted by a waft of cigarette smoke and Bob Seger on the jukebox. The long bar is peppered with congenial, middle-aged regulars, many of whom flirt good-naturedly with the bartender, Janelle. Paintings of naked women grace the walls, and there’s baseball on TV. And the longer you stay, the cheaper the drinks seem to get.

A stone’s throw down Huntington Drive on the other side of the road are two places to see live music: the Arcadia Blues Club (stylistically self-evident) and The First Cabin, which trades mainly in classic rock and proudly displays its opening time — 6 a.m. — on its brick exterior. But no trip to Santa Anita vicinity would be complete without a post-race beer or 12 at the 100-To-1 bar. In keeping with the Arcadia cocktail lounge motif, the Depression-era “Hundo” boasts no windows, and its sign is not illuminated during the day. But rest assured it’s open — and rollicking.

The Hundo separates itself from run-of-the-mill dives with a sloped, copper-plated roof and DIY karaoke. By way of explanation, when your song comes up, there’s no introduction (the bartender doubles as KJ, and she’s too busy to flatter your ego). It just starts playing, and it’s contingent upon you to hustle your rump up to the microphone with the speed of Zenyatta, lest you risk missing the opening verse of “Werewolves of London.”

Where to Sleep

If price is no object and you don’t mind being a couple towns over from Arcadia, it doesn’t get much more elegant than Pasadena’s Langham Huntington hotel. But for price and convenience, the Santa Anita Inn can’t be beat. Sure, the rooms are a tad dated and you’ll have to tolerate a loose bathroom fixture here and there, but the grounds are immaculately maintained, and the pool is clean and peaceful. But the best things about the motel are the $65 room rate, as well as its proximity to both the track (directly across the street) and the 100-To-1 (next door). Stay here and you’ll be able one of the few L.A.-area residents (however temporary) who won’t require a car to get around.

Riders Up

Seeing as Santa Anita attracts the finest riders and trainers in the western United States, there’s no shortage of human talent behind the horses. Savvy bettors will perk up at the site of Joe Talamo, Rafael Bejarano, Corey Nakatani, Martin Garcia, Garrett Gomez or Tyler Baze aboard a horse, as they will for nationally renowned trainers like Bob Baffert, Doug O’Neill, Jerry Hollendorfer, and John Sadler. If you visit Santa Anita be sure to consider an ultra-exotic bet called the Super High Five, where picking the first five horses in their correct order during the final race of each day will yield a ridiculously lucrative payout.

Tip Sheet

As the crow flies, the Burbank airport is closer to the track, but if you’re patient and adventurous enough to forego a rental car and take public transportation, the Flyaway bus from LAX will get you to Union Station, at which point a transfer to the 79 local will take you through several Huntington Drive suburbs until you arrive at the track (odds are you’ll bump into some uniformed Santa Anita employees as they board). And if you need to catch a flick or pick up some fresh duds, there’s a massive Westfield Mall with a 16-screen AMC cinema next door.

For those interested in more information, check out the Santa Anita media guide, an indispensable resource for those who want to dig a lot deeper.