Santa Anita Park history

“Doctor Strub, the original owner here, and his partners decided back in February 1935 that they needed to plant a flag here, to do something to make Santa Anita stand out.

Center photos on right: Aerial view of four of the five tracks built in Arcadia before 1938.

“Seabiscuit definitely helped put Santa Anita on the map by winning the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap,” Willman says. “It was a thrilling race and was huge for the park’s reputation.”

For six months following the surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the federal government used Santa Anita from March 30-October 27, 1942 as an assembly center with a peak population of 18,500-22,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry to be processed and sent to internment camps elsewhere.

He had been the leading rider in America – he had won the Santa Anita Handicap, the Santa Anita Derby, the Kentucky Derby, the Triple Crown, he won the Triple Crown in 1943, and so many more.

After the track reopened in 1945, it went through the postwar years with prosperity.

Your Host in winners circle after capturing the Santa Anita Derby 2/18/1950 (Courtesy of Santa Anita Park)

A downhill turf course, which added a distinctly European flair to racing at Santa Anita, was added in 1953.

Determine wins 1954 San Gabriel Stakes over Mr.

Opening day crowds would only get bigger through the decades, with more than 71,000 fans crowding into the stadium in 1960.

Oak Tree had no facilities of its own and rented Santa Anita Park for its first autumn meeting in 1969.

Santa Anita was also the showcase venue for the equestrian events of the 1984 Olympics and hosted the Breeders’ Cup five times in that series’ first 25 years.

In 1997, Santa Anita Park was acquired by Meditrust when it purchased the Santa Anita Companies for its unique real estate investment trust paired share corporate structure.

Frank Stronach’s Magna Entertainment Corp. purchased Santa Anita for $126 million in 1998.

Seabiscuit, whose legendary career became mainstream via a best-selling book and a 2003 movie, was one of the early icons at Santa Anita.

In 2006, Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita cohosted the Sunshine Millions, a day of competition with $3.6 million in stakes races between horses bred in the State of Florida and those bred in the State of California.

The new Cushion Track opened for training on September 4, 2007, just in time for the opening of the 39th Oak Tree Racing meet on September 26th.

Credit: Arcadia Historical Society Historical Marker Committee (December 2009): Scott Hettrick (chairman), Carol Libby, Gary Kovacic, Gene Glasco, Don Swenson

In 2012, a lifesize bronze of Zenyatta was unveiled prior to the running of the race renamed in her honor.

Starting in 2014, Santa Anita began adding more racing cards due to the closure of Hollywood Park Racetrack, hosting Hollywood Park's old spring dates from late April until June.

Santa Anita Park has already received the bid to have the Breeders’ Cup return to the track again in 2016

In early March 2019, all races were cancelled following the 21st fatality of the winter season; racing resumed late in the month.

Wine and cheese tasting draws crowdMarch 10, 2020