Santa Anita postpones opening day to Sunday because of rain

Blame it on the rain that is forecast to fall all week in Southern California. The forecast led to a postponement of Friday’s opening-day card at Santa Anita.

The card that has three Grade 1 races including the Malibu, La Brea and American Oaks will be run next Sunday. The track’s racing office said entries still will be taken Sunday afternoon.

Santa Anita also announced the meet’s second day featuring the Joe Hernández Stakes (G2) will happen next Monday.

The National Weather Service has predicted that showers will arrive Tuesday afternoon in Arcadia, Calif. The rain could be heavy at times Tuesday night and Wednesday with showers lingering through Friday night and a chance they may continue Saturday.

This is only the second time in nearly four decades that Santa Anita’s winter meet has been pushed back from its traditional Dec. 26 start. It happened in 2019 when a winter storm brought heavy rain to the San Gabriel Valley and snow to the neighboring mountains, pushing the new season back to Dec. 28. Before that, the last time weather forced a postponement was 1976.

Opening day arrived on time four years ago, but because of rain that week, the American Oaks (G1), the Mathis Mile (G2), the San Gabriel (G3) and an allowance race were moved from the turf to the main track.

The 48-day winter season billed by Santa Anita as its classic meet runs through April 5. Of the $510 million bet through all sources on last winter’s meet, more than $21 million or 4% came on opening day. Another 30 dates are part of the spring meet that runs from April 10 to June 14.