Santa Anita Park

ARCADIA, CA - APRIL 9: A general view of the horses coming down the front stretch during the Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita Park on April 9, 2005 in Arcadia, California. Buzzards Bay won the 1&1/8 mile race at 30-1 odds in a time of 1:49.18. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)Santa Anita Park, in Arcadia, California, will be hosting the 2009 Breeders’ Cup World Championships for the second time from 6 to 7 November. This is the first venue to be used in two consecutive years by the Breeders Cup.

Opened in 1934, Santa Anita Park is the oldest racecourse in southern California. It occupies a total area of 320 acres and, in addition to racing tracks, includes stables for over 2,000 horses and an equine hospital.

Each year, Santa Anita Park hosts some of the top races - including the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap - in the autumn and winter months that end the racing season. It opens annually on 26 December and features daily racing up to 20 April. In addition, it hosts the autumn meeting, presented by the Oak Tree Racing Association, from late September to early November. For 2009, the Breeders’ Cup races will form part of this meeting for the second time.

Santa Anita also provides betting facilities and closed-circuit TV simulcasts of racing during satellite wagering periods. For details of when you can place your advance bets for the 2009 Breeders’ Cup, see Breeders’ Cup betting.

The 2009 Breeders’ Cup Courses

In 2007, Santa Anita Park opened a new main track, featuring a synthetic cushion surface consisting of a mix of silica, synthetic fibres and granulated rubber, with a wax coating. This track circles a turf course of just under a mile.

Santa Anita Park also includes a hillside turf course - unusual in the United States - that crosses the dirt and is used for turf races of up to about 6½ furlongs.

Don’t miss the Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita in 2009! For directions to Santa Anita, see Breeders’ Cup travel.