Santa Anita opens with big field in Malibu

With Santa Anita’s four-month, 85-day winter-spring meet opening at noon today, the attention switches from the problems with the new synthetic track to the competition on it.

Highlighting today’s card at the Arcadia racetrack is the Grade I, $250,000 Malibu Stakes. The seven-furlong sprint, which has a wide-open field of 14, is the first race of the three-race Strub Series for horses who turn 4 on Jan. 1.

Also being run on the main track today is the $125,000 California Breeders’ Champion Stakes at seven furlongs for state-bred 2-year-olds.

There’s a turf race of note today as well -- the Grade III, $100,000 Sir Beaufort Stakes, a one-mile test for 3-year-olds -- but the focus will be on the renovated synthetic main track.

The renovation was necessary because of a drainage problem discovered after half an inch of rain in September. The repair work began Dec. 4, and early indications are the drainage problem is less severe. But how well the repairs went won’t be known for sure until the next rain.

Horses began working on the track Saturday for the first time in nearly three weeks, and trainers and riders found it to be fast and apparently safe.

But how things play out on the surface under race conditions remains an unknown.

The track would be playing extremely fast if any of the Malibu runners were to approach the stakes record of 1:20 that has stood for 27 years. It was set by Spectacular Bid in 1980 and remains the track record for seven furlongs.

Even without the unknown factors regarding the track, handicapping the Malibu wouldn’t be easy.

Great Hunter, to be ridden by Corey Nakatani, is the only Grade I winner in the field but hasn’t raced for seven months. His last race was the Kentucky Derby, where he finished 13th.

Illustrating the open nature of the race is that the morning-line favorite, Les Grand Trois, is listed at the generous odds of 4-1.

Tyler Baze, who finished second to Garrett Gomez in the jockey standings at the Hollywood Park meet that ended Saturday, is on 12-1 longshot Unusual Suspect. A closer-friendly track could help Unusual Suspect.

There’s another Grade I race Saturday, the La Brea Stakes.

And Jan. 26 is the $1-million Sunshine Millions Classic, the highlight of a series of four races featuring Florida-bred horses against California-bred horses.

Nashoba’s Key, the 4-year-old filly who was undefeated in seven races before a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, is among 57 nominees for the Sunshine Millions Classic. Another is 7-year-old McCann’s Mojave, who won last year’s Classic at odds of 33-1. And he recently won a Grade III stakes at Golden Gate Fields.

The synthetic Cushion Track that went under repair this month was first installed last summer before the opening of the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita. So it is new for the major winter-spring meet.

Also new this year is the schedule. After the first week, there will be racing Thursday through Monday rather than the traditional Wednesday-Sunday.

To stimulate interest in Monday racing, there will be free general admission and a lot of special promotions.

Also for the first time during this meet, TVG will take wagers and also provide access to live video streaming of races. But HRTV, which is partnered with XpressBet.com, retains exclusive television rights for live daily racing.

Gary Stevens, the three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey who is now a television commentator, has switched from TVG to HRTV and will make his debut with his new network Jan. 1.

larry.stewart@latimes.com

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Facts and figures

Santa Anita’s 85-day winter-spring meet opens today and ends April 20:

* Schedule: First week of racing: Today, dark Thursday, then Friday though Tuesday (special racing day on New Year’s Day). Ensuing weeks: Thursday through Monday.

* Post times: Noon today, weekends and holidays through Feb. 2, 12:30 thereafter. 1 p.m. on weekdays after today. Exceptions: 11:45 a.m. Jan. 26 (Sunshine Millions Day), 11 a.m. Feb. 3 (Super Bowl Sunday), noon March 1 (Big ‘Cap Day) and April 5 (Santa Anita Derby Day).

* TV: HRTV (daily live races), Channel 57, KJLA (replays weeknights at 10 p.m., weekends at 7:30).

Significant races

* Today: $250,000 Malibu Stakes.

* Saturday: $250,000 La Brea Stakes

* Jan. 26: $1-million Sunshine Millions Classic

* Jan. 27: $250,000 Santa Monica Handicap

* Feb. 2: $300,000 Strub Stakes

* Feb. 3: $300,000 San Antonio Handicap

* Feb. 9: $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes and $250,000 Santa Maria Handicap

* March 1: $1-million Santa Anita Handicap and $300,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile

* March 8: $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks and $300,000 Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap

* April 5: $750,000 Santa Anita Derby

* April 20: $250,000 San Juan Capistrano Invitational Handicap