Santa Anita Reopens Training Track for Light Training

Santa Anita Park will reopen its training track for light training March 8, according to Alan Balch, the executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers.

After a meeting between Santa Anita management and the CTT March 7, Balch said it was decided the training track would be open from 5-11:30 a.m. Friday, but only for galloping and jogging.

There will be three renovation breaks (6:30-7 a.m., 8-8:30 a.m., and 9:30-10 a.m.), 2-year-olds will be allowed on the surface from 10-11 a.m., and ponying will be allowed after 11 a.m. Under normal circumstances, the training track is open from 4:45-10 a.m.

Multiple executives at The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, did not respond to requests for comment.

Santa Anita suspended all training and racing indefinitely on its main track and training track March 5, hours after Lets Light the Way was fatally injured. The 4-year-old filly was the 21st equine fatality related to racing or training at Santa Anita since its meet opened Dec. 26 and the fourth fatality related to training on the main track since Feb. 23.

BALAN: Santa Anita Cancels Racing Indefinitely

Of the nine equine fatalities during training at Santa Anita since Dec. 26, none have occurred because of injuries on the training track, which sits between the infield and the turf course. When the training track might be open for timed workouts is not known.

"We're very pleased that the horses and horsemen can get onto the training track for a relatively light exercise," Balch said. "That's an important first step to get back to serious training. It's very important for high-performance athletes to return to a regular routine of exercise."

While the training track reopening is a relief for many horsemen based at Santa Anita, others have been moving horses to Los Alamitos Race Course, where they can log timed works for horses getting prepared for upcoming races. Los Alamitos owner Ed Allred said March 6 that trainers Bob Baffert, Jerry Hollendorfer, Richard Mandella, Peter Eurton, and others have moved or will move horses to the Orange County facility for training.

"I'm going to move some over there for training. It could be for a few days, it could be for a few weeks," Eurton said Wednesday. "I have some horses with stakes spots picked out for them, and if we do continue (racing at Santa Anita) soon, they need to train."

Earlier Thursday, Santa Anita announced that consultants Dennis Moore and Mick Peterson had begun "extensive testing" of its main track but that the two experts "do not have a timetable for completion of the testing and evaluation."

BALAN: Moore, Peterson Begin to Test Santa Anita Main Track

Moore is Santa Anita's former track superintendent. He left that position in late December but was hired as a consultant Tuesday to assess the safety of the main track. Peterson, the director of Ag Equine Programs at the University of Kentucky and a racetrack surfaces specialist, was previously brought in to assess the safety of the main track when it was shut down for training Feb. 26-27.

Before testing and analysis could begin Thursday, according to a press release from Santa Anita, the track personnel harrowed and aerated the main track, which "has been saturated due to recent rains." The release also said representatives from the California Horse Racing Board "were present to observe the process."