Santa Anita changes schedule to Thursday-through-Monday

Santa Anita will break from its traditional schedule of racing Wednesday through Sunday and go with a Thursday-through-Monday format a week after the winter meet opens Dec. 26.

Santa Anita President Ron Charles called it an experiment and said if it fails, the Arcadia track would go back to the Wednesday-Sunday schedule at the following winter meeting. “I’d be kicking myself if we at least didn’t try it,” Charles said Friday.

He said on-track attendance and handle were up at the last winter meet, but that was because of strong weekends. “We had had five days in which there were crowds over 30,000, and we hadn’t done that in 12 or 13 years,” he said.

But midweek attendance at the track was flat, and Charles felt something needed to be done. He said the horse racing industry as a whole supported the schedule change. Also, Charles said, general admission on Mondays will be free and there will be a number of promotions on those days.

Because Dec. 26 falls on a Wednesday and New Year’s Day is the following Tuesday, the meet will open on Wednesday, then run Friday through Tuesday. The Thursday-Monday schedule will be in effect through the remainder of the meet.

Jockey Garrett Gomez’s pursuit of Jerry Bailey’s record of 70 stakes wins in a year will continue this weekend at Hollywood Park. Gomez, the national earnings leader with more than $21 million in purses, has 69 stakes wins.

Gomez will ride Hocking Hot in the Audrey Skirball-Kenis Stakes today and Spring Awakening in the Moccasin Stakes on Sunday.

Blues Girl Too will try to add to an already glittering resume when she takes on nine 3-year-olds in the $818,850 Los Alamitos Super Derby tonight at Los Alamitos.

The champion 2-year-old filly of 2006 and a winner of seven of 11 starts, Blues Girl Too will be looking for the fourth Grade I victory of her career in the 400-yard Super Derby.

Trained by Joe Bassett, Blues Girl Too has never been worse than second. In addition to winning the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Dec. 8, the Texas-bred has victories in the Golden State Derby and Millie Vessels in 2007.

Her win in the Vessels earned her a berth in the $1-million Champion of Champions on Dec. 15, which is almost certain to be her final start.

Blues Girl Too was second to No Secrets Here in her trial for the Super Derby. No Secrets Here will break from the rail for trainer Paul Jones, who is coming off a dream weekend. Jones won the Golden State Million a week ago, then added four graded stakes wins on the Bank of America Challenge program the following night.

The quality field also includes four 3-year-olds -- A Mere Splash, Feature Mr Liquidity, A Stoli Mate and Little Bit Of Baja -- as well as Jess You And I, Ten Oclock Scholar, Jumpnback and Look Her Over.

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Times staff writer Bob Mieszerski contributed to this report.

larry.stewart@latimes.com