 Jon Lees | |
|---|---|
| Jon Lees is an award-winning racing journalist who was senior news reporter for the Racing Post for 20 years, before that he was chief racing correspondent for Britain’s national news agency, the Press Association. He was named Racing Reporter of the Year at the HWPA Derby Awards in 2013. He has travelled extensively covering horse racing, attending his first Breeders’ Cup in 1994. Since 2018 Jon has been a freelance, writing for The Times, the Telegraph, At The Races and Breeders’ Cup, working in PR for Ladbrokes and Newbury racecourse, and regularly contributes to the website horseracingplanet.com. | |
Santa Anita Park Racecourse – Track Analysis (California Crown Day):
Against the backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Anita is the most picturesque track in North America and one of the world’s premier racecourses. Located in Arcadia, the historic venue is 14 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, and has become a regular stopping point for the Breeders’ Cup World Championship.
The California Crown Day on Sunday morning sees four races for coverage. The featured race, 1800m G1 California Crown, inaugurated since 1982 as the Goodwood Handicap, is the track’s marquee event to kick off Santa Anita’s fall meet. Traditionally contested over 1800m on dirt, it is an automatic qualifier for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The left-handed oval racetrack comprises a one-mile main (dirt) track on the outside of a 1400m turf course. Uniquely Santa Anita also has a 1300m downhill course, which crosses the main track, known as the Hillside course, and is used for 2400m races. Also, as the racing surface switches from turf > dirt > then back to turf, when the field races its way, downhill and at top speed, back into the infield turf oval, which is quite challenging for the runners.
In distance races on the main track, horses drawn inside to middle who can save ground tend to be favoured but an outside draw can be overcome.
The same applies on the turf course where horses drawn 11 and 12 have the best strike rate this year, though most races on the track have involved field sizes of seven or fewer.
In sprint races on the main track, horses breaking from stall two have a 24% win strike rate in 2024.
The ground conditions are likely to ride fast on the main track and firm on the turf with hot weather forecast for the week and temperatures exceeding 26 degrees.
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