ARCADIA, Calif. – After a weeklong interruption caused by fires wreaking havoc in Southern California, Santa Anita is scheduled to resume racing Thursday.
The program is the same that would have been run last Friday. That card was postponed due to the fires. The 10 races on Thursday will be run as originally drawn.
The canceled weekend cards of Jan. 11-12 were to be redrawn and run a week later. Five stakes for California-breds on Jan. 11 were redrawn for Jan. 18. The Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes, originally scheduled for Jan. 12, will now be run Jan. 19. The Grade 3 La Canada Stakes, originally scheduled for Jan. 18, also has been moved to Jan. 19.
Undercard races from the canceled cards will be re-offered. Santa Anita was granted approval by the California Horse Racing Board to add Thursday, Jan. 23, to its racing calendar. When racing resumes Thursday at Santa Anita, it will be California’s first daytime program in 11 days.
Of course, the racing disruption and rescheduling are a mere inconvenience relative to the nearby fire tragedies.
“In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor problem [compared] to what people are dealing with right now,” Santa Anita racing secretary Jason Egan said.
With five racing days now scheduled from Thursday through Monday, followed by a four-day week from Jan. 23-26, Santa Anita plans to conduct nine days of racing during an 11-day period from Jan. 16-26.
The challenge for Santa Anita, in addition to filling races, is to continue momentum from the first eight days of the meet. Before the interruption, average field size was up nearly one horse per race to 8.08. Wagering handle was up 9 percent to a daily average of more than $11 million, while ontrack attendance was up 20 percent, according to Santa Anita.
The collapse of racing in Northern California has helped boost local field size as horses trickle south from Pleasanton. The closure of Pleasanton for racing leaves the Northern California circuit without a permanent home.
Through the most recent Santa Anita card of Jan. 5, seven of the 87 races this meet were for horses from Pleasanton. Despite increased field size, the win rate of favorites also is up. Dirt favorites have won 54 percent of all races, while turf favorites have won 43 percent. Favorites have won a combined 48 percent this meet.
Thursday’s card has three special-weight maiden races, including the debut of Clubhouse Cutie in race 7 for California-bred 3-year-old fillies. Sired by Clubhouse Ride and trained by Eric Kruljac, Clubhouse Cutie is a half-sister to Kruljac-trained Grade 1 sprinter The Chosen Vron.
Both half-siblings were produced by the dam Tiz Molly, who Kruljac said “was a more blocky, Quarter Horse [type] than The Chosen Vron, who is all Thoroughbred.” Kruljac added that Clubhouse Cutie “resembles her mother more than The Chosen Vron.”
One thing they all have in common is early success. Tiz Molly won her debut racing 5 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita, the same distance Clubhouse Cutie will run. Two of the three runners produced by Tiz Molly also won first time out. Kruljac is hopeful Clubhouse Cutie can follow suit.
“She looks like she should have some speed,” he said.
Diego Herrera has worked Clubhouse Cutie and will ride her from post 9 in a 10-horse field. Clubhouse Cutie’s main rival is to her outside. That horse, Gold Currency, makes her debut for trainer Ryan Hanson after a series of fast works. Gold Currency was the 3-1 program favorite before the card was postponed.
At the other end of the spectrum are a pair of veteran geldings trained by Peter Eurton, including 10-year-old Exultation. He runs a mile on turf in race 10, a $25,000 claiming race. In race 9, Eurton starts 8-year-old Lil Richards Bello in a California-bred allowance/optional-claiming dirt mile. Exultation’s career record is 9 for 29, while Lil Richards Bello is 4 for 19.
“It’s kind of gratifying, to be honest,” Eurton said, referring to the veterans he has trained throughout their careers. “You always worry every time you breeze them, but we do occasional body scans to make sure nothing’s hiding and PET scans to make sure we’re good to go.”
Exultation will make his first start of 2025 on Thursday. Last time out, he finished third with trouble as the favorite in a similar $25,000 claiming turf mile. Exultation has never raced more than six times in a single year during a career that began Dec. 14, 2017. This is the final year he can race at Santa Anita, which prohibits the running of 11-year-olds.
“He still has a tremendous amount of energy. He loves to run; he still has that want,” Eurton said. “I think a lot of it has to do with the fact we don’t run him that often.”
Juan Hernandez rides Exultation in race 10. His rivals in the $25,000 claiming race include Midwest shipper Bizzee Channel, also-eligible last-start winner Sydney Street, and 9-year-old late-runner Moody Jim.
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