Santa Anita, Again!

Seriously. If you haven't been to the races, you need to go; it's that much fun. Hubby and I spent another day admiring lovely TBs and enjoying the scenery at Santa Anita Park this past Sunday.

The view from our table at lunch.

Losing ticket. Last time we picked six out of nine winners. This time we managed one, but it was still a good win. For my $5, I walked away with a $20. Not too shabby!

Turf race - click image to enlarge. We did go over to the infield (through a tunnel) to watch one turf race which is run inside the main track. Santa Anita actually has three tracks: the main track, the turf track, and a smaller exercise track. I took this photo from our box seat.

This is the guy who played most of the Sea Biscuit role. Now, he gets ridden during the week, jumping and hacking, and spends a few hours each weekend hanging out for kids and families to photograph. He's a rather unimposing red horse with a kind eye.

This sign explained his role in the movie.

Quintessential Southern California, right?!

I liked this horse, but he faded down the home stretch. Santa Anita lets you get really close to the horses as they're tacked up. Surprisingly, this viewing area is pretty calm and quiet.

I bet on this horse, too, and he kicked BUTT. He was dead last to start, but in the final hundred yards, he came from the rear and won easily making it my only win of the day.

Jockey up - all of the owners and trainers stand around in the middle area on their horse's number. I guess it's a who's who thing.

I don't know if all the big tracks are as spectator friendly as is Santa Anita, but I hope so. This track is fun! You can easily make it down to the paddock area in time to actually see who you might like to bet on and be back in your seat for the race. There were several times Hubby quickly changed his bet based on what he saw.

Betting is also super easy at Santa Anita. We like to drop our cash in a voucher machine which spits out a ticket that you use like cash. You can can then drop that voucher into any betting machine and add or delete bets as you like. It reduces the need to whip cash out every time you want to make a bet.

We're hoping to get tickets for this fall's Breeder's Cup which will again be held at Santa Anita Park. Saturday was the Santa Anita Derby, a HUGE race day, but we were too late to get tickets. I did watch some of the main race on TV and saw that the winner of the Derby is now being shown as the Kentucky Derby favorite. I love his name: California Chrome.

Internet photo of California Chrome winning the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday

I think we'll be back for more Thoroughbred racing at Santa Anita!