Santa Anita Moves San Marcos, Baffle Back a Week

Two grass stakes scheduled for Feb. 2-3 at Santa Anita Park will be moved to Feb. 9 because of heavy rainstorms expected to hit Southern California during the week and through the weekend.

With the start of Saturday's 1 1/4-mile San Marcos Stakes (G2T) on the Santa Anita hillside turf course, and Sunday's Baffle Stakes a sprint down the hill, the racing office made the decision rather quickly not to run the races this weekend. In the past, with any significant moisture on the downhill course and the main-track crossover to the flat turf course, Santa Anita management has opted to take any races involving the hillside off the grass.

"We're getting anywhere from three to five inches of rain," said Santa Anita racing director Dan Eidson. "The San Marcos starts down the hill, so that's not going to happen, and Baffle runs down the hill, so that's not going to happen."

Eidson also indicated two other races in the condition book scheduled as sprints down the hillside course Saturday will not be run on the turf. Entries have not been released for Saturday's card.

Santa Anita has been proactive so far during its current meet regarding turf racing and rainy conditions, including racing days in which they have carded no grass races when wet conditions were likely, to avoid large amounts of scratches. The track also canceled racing Jan. 17, when flash-flood warnings were issued in the Arcadia, Calif., area.