California Crown reverts to reduced-money Goodwood Stakes

The California Crown, an ambitious attempt by 1/ST Racing to create a spectacle on a par with the Pegasus World Cup, will not be run a second time this fall as it goes back to a smaller purse and an old name.

“We have made the decision to pause the California Crown as we continue to have conversations with our event partners regarding the evolution of the overall brand,” 1/ST Racing senior vice president and executive producer Amy Zimmerman of 1/ST said in a statement.

“What we saw last year we will not see this year,” said Bill Nader, president and CEO of the Thoroughbred Owners of California. “It’ll be something different, and it’ll be scaled back closer to what it was in the past. The California Crown as you knew it last year is no more.”

The race that has been rebranded the Goodwood Stakes still will be a Grade 1 for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles on Santa Anita’s main track. It also will continue to be a win-and-you’re-in qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. It will not, however, carry the $1 million purse it had when Subsanador narrowly defeated National Treasure and Newgate on Sept. 28.

“It goes from the Awesome Again to the California Crown, and now it goes to the Goodwood Stakes,” Nader said. The race began in 1982 as the Goodwood Handicap.

The purse money for the 2025 Goodwood and its undercard stakes has not been finalized by the TOC, which budgets and pays the added money for California stakes.

“That wouldn’t be fixed until probably late June,” Nader told Horse Racing Nation. “But $300,000 is the minimum for a Grade 1. It would be fair to say (the Goodwood) will be closer to $300,000 than $1 million.”

A Toronto-based spokesperson for 1/ST chair Belinda Stronach rejected the characterization that the California Crown turned out to be a one-and-done event.

“While it is correct that California Crown is not being run this year, 1/ST ... is in discussions with the partners of the event, including The h.Wood Group and Chrome Hearts, on what the next evolution of the event could look like,” 1/ST vice president Tiffani Steer said.

Signs that California Crown day would not be repeated came subtly in Easter-egged hints this spring.

The conditions for the May 17 running of the 150th Preakness Stakes did not include the $5 million bonus offered last year for any horse who swept the Preakness, the California Crown and the 2025 Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at 1/ST-owned tracks.

In the posting of its 2025 challenge series, the Breeders’ Cup listed the Goodwood Stakes for Sept. 27. As a handicap or just plain stakes, the original Goodwood was run at Santa Anita under that name until 2009. After one year at Hollywood Park in 2010, it went back to Santa Anita and was rebranded the Awesome Again Stakes in 2011.

Nader and Zimmerman cautioned that this step back should be taken in context even as Southern California racing is challenged by shrinking business.

“Look, I don’t think it was totally unexpected,” he said. “Last year when (1/ST) did it, it was a big step considering the state of racing here to be able to step up and take that big swing they took. To be fair to them, they covered the entire day, so all the purses for the entire day, they covered all of those costs. For us, it was something we saw as a great gesture.”

“1/ST is focused on the investment into day-to-day racing at Santa Anita Park,” Zimmerman said, “building on the success of the 2024-25 classic meet by increasing overnight purses for the 2025 autumn meet, the Santa Anita Park classic meet and the Hollywood meet as we continue to create opportunities for horsemen and women within the single-circuit race meet in California.”

The California Crown idea went public in January 2024 when 1/ST chair Belinda Stronach did an interview with Associated Press reporter Tim Reynolds. At the time, the race mistakenly was said to be limited to 3-year-olds when, in fact, it kept the same open-company conditions as the Awesome Again.

Country hip-hop star Shaboozey headlined the party that surrounded the inaugural California Crown day. All-sources handle for the 10-race card that included five stakes totaled $17,907,293, a 28% increase over Awesome Again day in 2023. That did not include another $5 million in bets on the last four races from Hong Kong, according to Nader.

By comparison, the Pegasus lured $47,076,610 in all-sources betting in its Jan. 25 renewal at Gulfstream Park.

“Here you’ve got so much competition,” Nader said about Southern California. “The Pegasus found a sweet spot in January where there’s not much going on. It’s the day before the conference championships in the NFL. Here you had the Dodgers. You had USC playing (football) at home. There’s a lot going on here.”

The positive afterglow of the California Crown was tarnished when it was learned Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler had his watch stolen off his wrist in a mugging while attending the races that day.

Other stakes on the California Crown card, including the City of Hope Mile (G2), Eddie D (G2) and John Henry Turf Championship (G2) are expected to be retained at levels closer to $200,000. The Eddie D and John Henry had been boosted to $750,000 each.