Easily predictable Train wreck: Santa Anita Field Size: 5 Years of Numbers
 

And one of the responses in one of the Twitter threads was to increase purses…

The property next to Santa Anita , "Westfield Mall" is up for sale. The future doesn't look like Santa Anita will be racing.

Not sure that means much. I believe all the Westfield Malls are up for sale. The pandemic accelerated trends towards online shopping

The crusade against Lasix in stakes races can't possibly be helping.

Thomas says just get bigger gates...that will solve everything

But banning Lasix in stakes races just to please a bunch of woke crusaders is why there aren't even 6 horses in so many stakes races - let alone 16.

59 horses entered in 10 races for the Preakness Day card

Too many stake races.

enough all ready just close the place an get on with consolidation of the brokendown sport they want casinos give them what they want if that industry if thats what you want to call it will consolidate too . but day after day of fields of 5 and 6 horses is enough too make any fan or bettor quit this sagging sport :puke:

After scratches I’m sure 4 horse races will be fun

Exactly, Ralph. We KNOW the scratches are coming.

Six races with 6 horses, 3 races with 5 horses. One race with 8 horses. With rare exception, I stay away from races with 6 or fewer horses. It's getting hard for me to find playable cards.

Too many races. Need two days per week, one card with 6 and one card with 5 races.

The small fields just grind the minnows into the dust.

Quite a few racetracks need to close
Santa Anita should be closed Mid May til Sept

how many horses are stabled at SA right now?

Why don't you put 5 years of Santa Anita numbers on a graph and compare to 5 years of HANA numbers, so there's a 'normal' for the viewer to compare to Santa Anita's demise?

you one funny guy

how big is that axe, exactly?

Santa Anita is going to have a two day race week this fall on October 15-16 with no racing on Friday October 14

This tells me they are open to the idea of cutting Fridays from the schedule in the future if field size doesn't improve - or gets worse

Also, the Los Al September thoroughbred meet will feature only six days of racing over the two-week period.

Yup and going to 2 day a week racing means some horses will race on a seven to eight day rest. That’s how it use to be years ago anyway.

Over/under on how many?

I'll say 1.

I know I'm a broken record on this, but we need to go with one circuit. We'd have enough horses to fill fields if we get rid of Los Al, shorten the calendar length of the Santa Anita and Del Mar meetings, and basically give most of the fall and early summer to Golden Gate.

This whole mess is a product of the horsemen demanding there be 2 circuits when we either don't have enough horses or horsemen don't run them often enough to justify it.

only 62 horses entered for opening day Friday at Santa Anita (9 race card)

How would people feel about running some major races on synth again if they went to GG?

Well, the field size increased at HOL once they switched to Cushion Track. I suspect they'd cope.

really think they need a complete redo in Cali
 

Del Mar is the premiere venue, Los Al likely not long for this world as long rumored

Santa Anita has a great view but is a bullring in disguise + the wonderful, underused downhill turf course

I'd look into opening a new venue somewhere in the region for non-Del Mar season and close/sell Santa Anita to pay for this + start a new program to raise horses in California and attract some new trainers from around the world

I find the races in California unbettable due to the long history of shady trainers - seems worse in the Southwest US for whatever reason, likewise Arizona and New Mexico racing is useless

California needs some fresh thinking, learn from what's working at Colonial & Kentucky Downs to the East, and in Hong Kong to the West

and above all else, raise the bar on minimum standards on trainers so that a serious wager can be placed without thinking you need inside information to have a chance

the current political climate in California is not good for horse racing

The political climate in California is not good for anything right now!!!

bingo

smash and grab maybe