Rain stops, Santa Anita races Saturday; 2 stakes stay on turf

A morning break in the rain convinced management at Santa Anita to go ahead with its nine races scheduled for Saturday with two graded stakes staying on the turf.

“We will be on the turf, weather and course condition permitting,” the Santa Anita racing office said in a text message to horsemen at 1 p.m. EST, a little more than two hours before the first race. “Race 1 will be taken off the hillside course and run at 6 1/2 furlongs out of the turf chute.”

That would be the $200,000 Joe Hernández (G2), which was carded as the opener in hopes of dodging the rain. The $100,000 Robert J. Frankel (G3), a 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares on the flat turf course, is the third race on the card. Any moves to the main track would result in a downgrading of the affected races.

The fifth race, a maiden mile, also stayed on the grass. Both the turf and main tracks were rated good just before the first post at 3:06 p.m. EST.

There were 74 horses entered for the nine races Saturday. Six were announced before the opener as scratches from four races.

One concession brought on by the rain was fan access. “Due to the weather forecast, the infield will be closed,” the track website said.

Management said Friday it would take a wait-and-see approach to Saturday, when conditions looked more daunting.

The National Weather Service updated its forecast Saturday to say showers still were likely, but it added its prediction of a partly sunny sky and a high near 61. It downgraded the likelihood of more rain from 100 percent to 60 percent with no more than a tenth of an inch coming.

The forecast for the rest of the weekend is for a mostly cloudy afternoon with a high near 59 degrees Sunday. That is when the $100,000 Las Flores (G3) for older fillies and mares will be the feature of Santa Anita’s nine-race card starting at 3 p.m. EST.