Santa Anita tries to fix drainage problems

Santa Anita closed its track to training on Sunday and has begun a maintenance program that will try to improve issues involving drainage of its Pro-Ride surface when it rains at the Arcadia track. Significant rain has resulted in the track being unusable at times.

"For the most part, this is regularly scheduled maintenance," Santa Anita President George Haines said. "Beyond that, however, we are working toward mitigating our drainage issues with the main track. The Pro-Ride surface was very safe, and it performed beautifully this past meet, except for the fact that we continue to have drainage issues through the [home] stretch and in particular, in the area near the finish line.

"We're in the process of repairing this area now. We've gone down to the base, and we're going to try and address the drainage problem as best we can."

Santa Anita is scheduled to host the Oak Tree meeting from Sept. 29 to Oct. 31.

-- Eric Sondheimer