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Santa Anita Racetrack is expanding its turf track to allow for the return of daily sprint races that were halted when its signature downhill course shut down last year in response to horse deaths.

Horses running 6 and 6 1/2 furlongs will instead start on a new turf chute under construction at the racetrack’s northeast corner near the Gate 5 entrance to the venue’s parking lot. The addition will run parallel to the main dirt track’s existing 7-furlong chute.

It’s the first major expansion of the racetrack since the downhill course was added in 1953, according to Mike Willman, Santa Anita’s director of publicity.

“It’s going to take pressure off the hillside turf course,” he said.

Problems with downhill track

Santa Anita stopped using the downhill for sprints following the highly publicized death of Arms Runner during the San Simeon Stakes in March 2019. The 5-year-old gelding collided with another horse at a section of the downhill course that crosses over about 80 feet of dirt before returning to turf. The course stayed closed during the Breeders’ Cup, where horses raced instead on the 5-furlong inner turf oval.

The downhill course is the only one of its type in the United States and is more complex than the new turf chute. The older course has a rare right-hand turn, something not seen at any other American track. Horses transition between different types of surfaces at top speeds after coming off an incline. And rain can make the turf slippery as the horses fly down the hill.

Statistics show the downhill turf course is Santa Anita’s most dangerous, according to analysis by the California Horse Racing Board. Santa Anita experienced a rate of 2.81 fatalities per 1,000 racing starts on the downhill from 2011 to 2019, compared to 2.39 deaths per 1,000 on the much more heavily used dirt track during the same time period.

“There were a lot of horses getting injured,” said Aidan Butler, executive director of California Racing Operations at the Stronach Group, Santa Anita’s owner.

The new chute reduces the need to run on the downhill course, which was the only option for certain sprints. Horses starting on the chute won’t experience inclines and they’ll cross over the dirt early on, before they’ve reached top speeds. Races on the turf will have starts at 5, 5 1/2, 6 and 6 1/2 furlongs.

“You’ve got programmability,” Butler said of the new addition.

The addition is part of the Stronach Group’s continued investment into the historic Arcadia racetrack, Butler said. The company has spent millions on improvements and new technologies to make the track safer, he said.

Work on the chute began not longer after Belinda Stronach settled a lawsuit filed by her father, Frank Stronach, that challenged her control of the family business. Under the settlement, Frank Stronach gained control of the family’s thoroughbred breeding and farm operations, while Belinda Stronach retained control of its racing, gaming and real estate interests.

Downhill course still used

The existing downhill track won’t be going away. It is still used for longer races, such as the 1 1/8 mile, where horses aren’t moving quite as fast. Santa Anita also plans to use it for special event sprints in the future, according to the company’s leadership.

Dennis Moore, a renowned track consultant, is overseeing the installation of the chute with a crew of about 12 from Santa Anita’s grounds team. They’ve torn into what was a parking lot and will fill the space with dirt to connect back to Santa Anita’s main track. Moore said he hopes to place the grass by early October and have the chute ready for the opening of Santa Anita’s winter meet in December.

“We want this to be a very smooth transition,” Moore said of the crossover from turf to dirt.

Santa Anita brought Moore back in March 2019 following a surge in equine deaths. The CHRB investigated the deaths for a year and determined the cause was multifactorial. Heavy rains, unusually cold weather and an overused track all likely contributed, according to the report.

The Stronach Group implemented a series of reforms that increased scrutiny of horses before and after they raced, cracked down on certain medications and reduced the number of participants allowed to train on a course at the same time, among others. The company installed a PET scan to detect damage to horses’ legs at the microscopic level. About 90 percent of fatal breaks stem from preexisting problems, according to the CHRB.

According to Butler, the PET scan has been successful enough that the Stronach Group plans to buy another machine for Golden Gate Fields in the Bay Area.

Racing returns in September

Santa Anita will host a short meet from Sept. 19 to Oct. 25, still without spectators due to the coronavirus. At its Aug. 20 meeting, Butler told the CHRB that Santa Anita delayed the start of the meet to give the horses time to rest and to ensure its COVID-19 protocols were in place.

County officials recorded 38 COVID-19 cases at Santa Anita by the end of its previous meet in June. Butler said many of those cases mentioned Santa Anita because the county tracks people by their place of employment, though the employees did not come to the track daily.

Santa Anita will continue the protocols put into place earlier this year. Anyone entering the racetrack is required to get a temperature check. Masks and social distancing are required. The backstretch is closed to nonessential employees. During the last meet, the Stronach Group installed quarantined “colonies” for the jockeys in Santa Anita’s parking lot, but its uncertain if the housing will return for the September meet, Butler said.

The company is working with an expert on infectious disease to update its protocols, he said. More than 750 workers live at the racetrack to care for the horses.

Fifteen jockeys tested positive for COVID-19 at Del Mar racetrack in July.  Butler said the jockeys infected with COVID-19 no longer need to be quarantined based on CDC guidelines. Those guidelines state individuals that previously had the virus do not need to be tested or quarantined for up to three months as long as they do not develop symptoms again.

The CDC’s guidelines stress it is unknown if someone can become reinfected with COVID-19. There have been no confirmed reports of reinfection, but research is ongoing, according to the CDC.