page_title: Santa Anita Park
section_title: Course attributes
hierarchical_section_title: Santa Anita Park / Course attributes
caption_attribution_description: w:Santa Anita Park racetrack with w:San Gabriel Mountains in the background. (As the morning fog clears away.) Taken by Ellen Levy Finch (User:Elf) Feb 11, 2006.
context_page_description: Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races including both the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap as well as hosting the Breeders' Cup in 1986, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2019. Since 2011, The Stronach Group are the current owners.
context_section_description: Santa Anita has a one-mile (1,609 m) natural dirt main track which rings a turf course measuring 0.9 mile, or 1,584 yards (1,448 m). In addition, it has an unusual hillside turf course which crosses the dirt and had been used mainly to run turf races at a distance of "about" 6½ furlongs (exact distance is 1,408.5 yards (1,287.9 m)), as well as longer races at 1¼ miles, 1½ miles and about 1¾ miles. This type of track is one of the few of its kind in America.
  In August 2020, Santa Anita broke ground on a new backstretch turf chute. The new turf chute is expected to be finished in time for the 2020/2021 winter meet, and will be used primarily for turf sprints at distances up to 6½ furlongs. Santa Anita effectively ended downhill turf sprints following an incident in the 2019 San Simeon Stakes; under their plans, the hillside turf course will continue to be used for distance races.
  To comply with a State of California mandate, Santa Anita replaced its dirt racing surface with a new synthetic surface called Cushion Track, a mixture of silica sand, synthetic fibers, elastic fiber, granulated rubber and a wax coating. The new Cushion Track opened for training on Sept 4, 2007 and hosted its first live race on Sept 26, 2007. The track lost 11 racing dates in 2008 due to a drainage problem with the new material, but intensive maintenance and the addition of a liquid binder greatly improved the artificial surface. Santa Anita replaced the artificial surface with a return to an all natural dirt surface in December 2010.
  Santa Anita occupies 320 acres (1.3 km²). It has a 1,100-foot (340 m)-long grandstand, which is a historic landmark that seats 26,000 guests. The grandstand facade is rendered in an Art Deco style and is largely the original from the 1930s. The track infield area, which resembles a park with picnic tables and large trees, can accommodate 50,000 or more guests. The Park also contains 61 barns, which house more than 2,000 horses, and an equine hospital.
caption: The Santa Anita track is set against the backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains.
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