"
Rancho Santa Anita" was owned originally by former San Gabriel Mission Mayor-Domo, Claudio Lopez, and named after a family member, "Anita Cota". The ranch was later acquired by rancher
Hugo Reid, a
Scotsman. The property's most widely known owner was probably multimillionaire
Lucky Baldwin, a successful businessman in San Francisco who greatly enhanced his wealth through an investment in the famous
Comstock Lode. Baldwin became a successful breeder and owner of Thoroughbred racehorses and in 1904 built a racetrack adjacent to the present site. On February 4, 1909 the
California State Legislature passed an anti-racetrack gambling bill known as the
Walker–Otis Law. Similar in its goal to
New York State's 1908
Hart–Agnew Law, the California law resulted in the permanent closing of the Baldwin racetrack. In 1912 the racing facility burned to the ground. In 1933, California legalized
parimutuel wagering and several investor groups worked to open racetracks. In the
San Francisco area, a group headed by
Dr. Charles H "Doc" Strub was having trouble locating a site. In the Los Angeles area, a group headed by movie producer
Hal Roach was in need of further funds. These two groups combined and the newly formed Los Angeles Turf Club opened the present day track on Christmas Day in 1934, making it the first formally-established racetrack in California. Architect
Gordon Kaufmann designed its various buildings in a combination of
Colonial Revival and a type of
Art Deco known as
Streamline Moderne, painted primarily in Santa Anita's signature colors of
Persian Green and
Chiffon Yellow. In February 1935, the first
Santa Anita Handicap was run. The race's $100,000 purse, largest of any race ever in the United States until that time, produced its nickname the Big 'Cap. In its heyday, the track's races attracted such stars as
Betty Grable,
Lana Turner,
Edgar Bergen,
Jane Russell,
Cary Grant,
Clark Gable, and
Esther Williams, among others.
Bing Crosby,
Joe E. Brown,
Al Jolson, and
Harry Warner were all stockholders. In 1940,
Seabiscuit won the Santa Anita Handicap in his last start. In 1942, racing at Santa Anita was suspended due to the Second World War. Santa Anita was used as an
assembly center for
Japanese Americans excluded from the West Coast. For several months in 1942, over 18,000 people lived in horse stables and military-style barracks constructed on the site, including actor
George Takei, then a young boy. After the track reopened in 1945, It was also featured in
A Star Is Born (1937). Several stars, including
Bing Crosby,
Spencer Tracy,
Errol Flynn,
Alex Trebek, and
MGM mogul,
Louis B. Mayer, have owned horses that raced at the park. The 1958 Santa Anita Derby was attended by 61,123 people, making the attendance that day a record crowd. They had come to watch
Silky Sullivan come from 28 lengths off the pace and win—going away. The 1960s brought about a major renovation of Santa Anita Park, including a much-expanded grandstand as well as major seating additions. In 1968,
Del Mar Racetrack relinquished its dates for a fall meeting. A group of horsemen including
Clement Hirsch intervened and established the not-for-profit
Oak Tree Racing Association. Oak Tree had no facilities of its own and rented Santa Anita Park for its first autumn meeting in 1969. The Oak Tree Association became the operator of the autumn meet at Santa Anita Park. This meet usually ran from the end of September until early November. Many key stakes races were held during the Oak Tree Meeting, including many preps to the
Breeders' Cup races. The Oak Tree meet relocated to
Hollywood Park for 2010 but the California Horse Racing Board awarded the fall dates to Santa Anita in its own right in 2011. This prompted a renaming of many stakes races held at the fall meeting that were formerly associated with Oak Tree. For example, the Norfolk, Goodwood, Yellow Ribbon, Lady's Secret, and Oak Leaf, were renamed at the FrontRunner, Awesome Again, Rodeo Drive, Zenyatta and Chandelier respectively. Prosperity continued at Santa Anita throughout the 1970s and the 1980s. In 1984, Santa Anita hosted the
equestrian events at the
1984 Olympics, and in 1985, the track set an attendance record of 85,527 people on Santa Anita Handicap Day. Recognizing the potential revenue boon to the State of California, the California Legislature expanded off track betting, bring operating betting parlors within closer driving distance of the race-day tracks. While the Santa Anita meeting could still draw large crowds, attendance had decreased by a third. Only 56,810 people were at the park for Santa Anita Derby Day 2007 to witness a Grade I event. woman who lived on the site during its time as a
War Relocation Camp, poses with Seabiscuit statue, 1942. 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. Following the elimination of the special tax treatment accorded Pair Share
REITs, Meditrust sold the track to
Magna Entertainment Corp. 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. At Santa Anita,
harness racing was also conducted. At Santa Anita Park's European-style paddock there are
statues of jockeys
George Woolf,
Johnny Longden,
Bill Shoemaker and
Laffit Pincay Jr. plus a memorial
bust of announcer
Joe Hernandez and one of trainer
Charlie Whittingham with his dog, Toby. There is also a lifesize bronze of
Seabiscuit in the walking ring at Seabiscuit Court; a similar bronze of
John Henry was unveiled near the Seabiscuit statue in December 2009. Buried near the paddock is
Emperor of Norfolk, the best horse Lucky Baldwin ever owned, along with three other great Baldwin horses: Volante,
Silver Cloud, and Rey El Santa Anita, all four of them winners of the prestigious
American Derby. In 2012, a lifesize bronze of
Zenyatta was unveiled prior to the running of the race renamed in her honor. Since 1950, Santa Anita Park has annually presented the
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award to a rider who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack. South African native
Trevor Denman served as Santa Anita's full-time announcer from the 1983 Oak Tree meet until his retirement from the position in 2015. Denman is noted for his calls beginning with "And awaaay they go..." and his distinctive gravelly voice. Queensland, Australia native
Michael Wrona was chosen to succeed Denman in March 2016. At the end of 2018, The
Stronach Group named
Frank Mirahmadi as Santa Anita's announcer. 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. In mid-March 2020, due to the
COVID-19 outbreak, racing resumed without fans; two weeks later, racing was suspended until May 15, 2020. During the
January 2025 Southern California wildfires Santa Anita's parking lots were used to distribute relief supplies to affected residents, as well as for emergency staging for agencies including
Southern California Edison. Three days of live racing were cancelled due to fire and air quality concerns, as the track lay near to the
Eaton Fire.
Horse fatalities of 2019 In early March 2019, all races were cancelled following the 21st fatality of the winter season; racing resumed late in the month. Races were postponed so that the dirt surface could be studied. Seven of the 21 deaths occurred during races on the dirt oval with nine happening during training on dirt and the others occurring on the turf track. Thirty-seven horses died at the facility in 2019, causing the above noted suspension of races, and resulting in the California Racing Commission considering rule changes. Following the death of the 30th horse in late June, trainer
Jerry Hollendorfer, who had trained four of the horses that died, was banned forever by the Stronach Group from all of its facilities.
Santa Anita Assembly Center In February 1942, after President
Franklin D. Roosevelt issued
Executive Order 9066, which authorized military commanders to exclude "any or all persons" from certain areas in the name of national defense, the
Western Defense Command began ordering Japanese Americans living on the West Coast to present themselves for "evacuation" from the newly created military zones. Seventeen temporary "assembly centers" were designated to house the evicted population until construction on the more permanent and isolated internment camps was finished. Most, like the
Santa Anita Assembly Center, were converted from former uses like racing tracks or fairgrounds. Santa Anita was turned over to the Wartime Civilian Control Administration, the government body responsible for oversight of the temporary detention facilities, in March 1942, and army engineers soon after built 500 barracks on the parking lot and converted the horse stables and the area underneath the grandstand into residential "apartments". Japanese-Americans began arriving in April, most coming from the surrounding Los Angeles County, and the center's population soon topped 18,000, peaking at 18,719 by August of that year. Six mess halls, each seating approximately 850 at a time, fed some 3,000 people daily at a cost of 33 cents per person. The sanitary facilities faced similar overcrowding, with a ratio of 30 people to each shower
after the number of showers was increased from 150 to 225 in early July. Consequently, those in the center spent a significant portion of their time in Santa Anita waiting in line for meals or to use the sanitary facilities. ==Course attributes==