ARCADIA — In the premiere of the California Crown on Saturday, Santa Anita Park’s bosses are taking an already big day of horse racing and trying to make it richer, fancier and hipper.
It remains to be seen if the event’s combination of racing, entertainment and culinary attractions will succeed in its stated goal of drawing more glamorous crowds to the L.A. area’s major racetrack.
But from the day entries were taken for the $1 million, Grade I California Crown Stakes and four other stakes on the 10-race card, the event certainly has succeeded at drawing more good horses.
The California Crown Stakes, given a bigger purse and new name after a decade as the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes, attracted four Grade I-level winners in 8-5 morning-line favorite National Treasure, 2-1 Muth, 6-1 Senor Buscador and 6-1 Newgate, making it the highest-achieving field for this race in years. It has two horses (5-1 Subsanador and Muth) coming off wins, the most since 2021. It has two (National Treasure and Subsanador) returning from engagements in New York and New Jersey, the closest thing the race has had to shippers from out-of-state since 2020. Contention runs deeper than usual, with five of the seven entrants assigned single-digit odds.
The picture is similarly encouraging for the other graded stakes on the first Saturday of the one-month Santa Anita fall season that opens at 1 p.m. Friday.
The $750,000, Grade II John Henry Turf Championship Stakes – up from $200,000 last year, when it was run on Sunday – has an 11-horse field, up from six and eight the past two years, including Gold Phoenix and other top California grass horses and one shipper in Kentucky-based Big Blue Line. The $750,000, Grade II Eddie D. Stakes – up from $200,000 – has 11 turf sprinters, among them three shippers, led by Saratoga stakes winner Big Invasion. The $200,000, Grade II City of Hope Mile on turf, though no richer than in the past, has a contender from out of state in Belmont Derby winner Trikari.
Those races have always been attractive because they send horses on to the Breeders’ Cup, to be run this year on Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar. Now they’re more attractive because of the purses – the California Crown Stakes matches Del Mar’s Pacific Classic as the only $1 million stakes currently run in California outside of a Breeders’ Cup.
“I hope it takes hold and we do this every year,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “I like the concept of throwing big money out here in California. Usually you have to ship elsewhere to find big purses like this.”
D’Amato will chase those purses with Gold Phoenix, Balnikhov, Rockemporor and Divin Propos in the John Henry Turf Championship, and Conclude, Almendares and Easter in the City of Hope Mile, and King of Gosford in the Eddie D.
“I wish it the best of luck,” Richard Mandella, the Hall of Fame trainer of Subsanador, said of the California Crown. “We need things like this to wake California up and get back in the spotlight a little. Making a big day of it. Putting a little life in the game.”
Mandella said he would have considered sending Subsanador to the $500,000 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs on Saturday if not for the higher purse at Santa Anita.
Bob Baffert, also a Hall of Fame trainer, has National Treasure, Muth and Newgate in the day’s marquee race, and said that without the $1 million purse it’s unlikely all three would have stayed in California.
“It’s going to be good racing and good horses running. I think it’s good for California racing,” Baffert said. “If you’ve never gone to the Kentucky Derby or something, and you want to get a little bit of what it feels like, they’re going to make it very festive.”
Executives of 1ST, the company that runs Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park in Florida and Pimlico in Baltimore, modeled the California Crown on the Pegasus World Cup, the winter event at Gulfstream whose main event carries a $3 million purse. National Treasure and Senor Buscador ran 1-2 in the Pegasus World Cup in January.
The California Crown will feature live music between and after the races from Shaboozey, Gryffin, Lil Yachty, Frank Walker and Zack Bia, and “luxury hospitality experiences” from Delilah, Funke and Wally’s.
General admission costs $25, and box seats run as high as $1,372.50. Some Santa Anita regulars complain about being displaced.
Most complaints have been anticipated by 1/ST execs. They’re quick to point out that the higher purses are being paid for by 1/ST, so they’re not taking money from the every-day purse account. And they say the day’s non-racing attractions won’t distract people from the sport – in fact, “wagering ambassadors” will be available in the VIP sections to teach patrons how to pick and bet on horses.
With seasoned horseplayers in mind, the day offers special wagers combining the stakes in daily doubles and a pick 5, as well as doubles, a pick 4 and a pick 6 combining stakes Saturday with the Zenyatta Stakes and Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes on Sunday. All of the special wagers have lower-than-usual 15% takeout.
The John Henry, Eddie D. and California Crown Stakes – races 7, 8 and 9 – will be shown nationally on CNBC and streamed on Peacock starting at 3 p.m.
Peter Rotondo, 1/ST’s senior vice president of racing and wagering, said he expects the California Crown to grow the way the Pegasus World Cup has in its eight years.
Related Articles
Santa Anita horse racing consensus picks for Friday, September 27, 2024
4-year-old horse dies in training injury at Santa Anita
California Crown Stakes draws solid field of 7
Show Card shows she’s tough in Los Alamitos win
Los Alamitos horse racing consensus picks for Sunday, September 22, 2024
“Now it (the Pegasus) has its place on the horse-racing calendar and has its place on the Miami nightlife calendar as well,” Rotondo said. “The idea was, let’s bring the Pegasus (concept) west and give Santa Anita a marquee big event, not just racing but also great entertainment, working with hospitality partners in L.A.
“(The goal) is to bring L.A. lifestyle, Hollywood types to the track who may never come (otherwise), and then have a whole program to make sure they come back.”
Such a program depends first on good racing. Saturday’s card presents a strong chance of that.
Follow horse racing correspondent Kevin Modesti at Twitter.com/KevinModesti.