With heavy rain forecast for this weekend, Santa Anita has canceled live racing on Saturday and Sunday. A makeup card will be added next Thursday, April 4, with entries to be taken on Saturday. According to the National Weather Service, rain is expected to arrive in the area Friday evening and remain throughout the weekend.
Thursday's makeup card will include both the GIII Wilshire Stakes on turf, which was scheduled for Saturday, and the GIII American Stakes on turf that was set to be run this Sunday. In addition to Thursday's card, Santa Anita plans to run extra races Friday through Sunday. All races in the condition book for this weekend will be offered back next week.
Next Thursday's card will start a four-day race week at Santa Anita, which is highlighted by the GI Santa Anita Derby card on Saturday, April 6. In addition to the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, which is a major prep for the Kentucky Derby, the card will also include the GII, $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks, a major prep for the Kentucky Oaks; GIII, $200,000 Monrovia Stakes on the hillside turf course; and a pair of California-bred stakes, the $150,000 Echo Eddie Stakes for 3-year-olds and $150,000 Evening Jewel for 3-year-old fillies, both at six furlongs on dirt.
As a result of the cancellations, no Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 wagers will be offered this weekend. 1/ST Racing was scheduled to seed Saturday's Coast-to-Coast pool with an additional $100,000. That will now take place with the Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 on Sunday, April 7.
The popular Easter Egg Hunt, the largest in the San Gabriel Valley, that was scheduled for Sunday, will take place in the Santa Anita infield on Sunday, April 7. The infield carnival will be offered all four days next week, Thursday through Sunday.
Next weekend's Santa Anita Derby card will be drawn on Wednesday.
