Santa Anita resurfacing

Santa Anita Park is re-doing its track surface yet again, this time a comparatively minor makeover that will result in the closing of the track to training for 10 days starting July 11.

Santa Anita made the announcement in conjunction with the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT). The remediation of the track surface with natural sand will be completed in time for training throughout the upcoming Del Mar race meeting and well in advance of Santa Anita’s 2011 Autumn Meeting, which will open in late September. During the course of the project, the inner training track will be available to horsemen from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m., seven days a week.

Santa Anita, which converted from a synthetic main track to natural dirt in December, 2010, experienced near record rainfall immediately following the installation project and, as a result, the composition of the newly installed soils was altered, resulting in an unacceptably high percentage of silt and clay. The current project will remedy this imbalance and no further soil-related issues are anticipated.

Santa Anita, which hosted back-to-back Breeders’ Cup World Championship events in 2009 and 2010, is on a short-list of finalists to again play host to the Breeders’ Cup in 2012.

— By Scott Hettrick