Santa Anita to begin autumn meeting Friday with new dirt surface

A 25-day autumn meeting at Santa Anita begins Friday, and there’s great anticipation — and not only because the Breeders’ Cup World Championships will be held on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at the Arcadia track.

A new dirt surface known as El Segundo sand, brought in from the excavation construction project going on at Los Angeles International Airport, has been installed at the track. And horsemen are hoping that the new surface will provide a lift to Southern California horse racing.

It was eight years ago that the California Horse Racing Board mandated the switch to synthetic surfaces.

Hollywood Park installed its Cushion synthetic surface in 2006. Santa Anita switched in 2007. So did Del Mar. But the synthetic tracks weren’t any safer.

So Santa Anita went back to dirt in 2010. Hollywood Park has since closed, but by next year, Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos will all have similar dirt surfaces. “We’re looking forward to the same surface in three places,” trainer John Sadler said. “This is what we’ve been asking for.”

So far, the early reviews for Santa Anita’s new surface are positive.

“It doesn’t seem there’s a lot of kickback and the horses are coming back good,” Sadler said. “We’re happy because we’re coming off a disappointing Del Mar track.”

Del Mar’s summer meeting produced some safety concerns over its new turf course early in the meet. With the Breeders’ Cup only a month away, Santa Anita needs a good beginning, and horse racing fans across the country will be focusing on Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Challenge Day that features five Grade I stakes among an 11-race card.

Unbeaten Shared Belief, the likely favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, has his final tuneup in the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes on Saturday. When last seen, Shared Belief was running away to victory in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. There’s only seven horses in Saturday’s race.

Track officials will be crossing their fingers, because their best-case scenario is for Shared Belief to take on Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1. California Chrome finished sixth last week in the Pennsylvania Derby in his first race in three months.

Two-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder will race in the $300,000 Zenyatta Stakes. There’s also a pair of Grade I races for 2-year-olds and the Grade I Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares going 1 1/4 miles on the turf.

First post on Saturday is 12:30 p.m.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com