Santa Anita cancels card again

In what is believed to be an unprecedented move, Santa Anita canceled racing for a second consecutive day Sunday as the troubles caused by heavy rain and an ongoing drainage problem with the racetrack’s new synthetic surface worsened.

Fans already at the track were informed just before 11:30 a.m. that there would be no live racing, only simulcast racing, and they would get rain checks redeemable on any race day.

The decision to cancel the nine-race card came about an hour after track officials met with a dozen or so jockeys.

“It’s inconsistent,” said Aaron Gryder after testing the synthetic Cushion Track by galloping a thoroughbred 1 1/4 miles on it, meaning it was considerably softer in some spots than others.

Jockey Mike Smith said a horse is susceptible to injury if the hooves “are sinking in about one inch at one point, then suddenly four inches.”

Jockey Tyler Baze tested the track aboard a stable pony and said, “I wouldn’t run on this.”

A decision regarding the live racing scheduled for today will be made this morning.

George Haines, Santa Anita’s general manager, said every effort was being made to get the track ready.

Another reason for canceling Sunday’s races was the number of scratches. In all, 39 of the 83 entrants were scratched -- 32 on Sunday morning.

“I’m not taking any chances,” said trainer Bobby Frankel, in explaining why he scratched the two horses he planned to run.

Only two horses were left of a 10-horse field to go in the eighth race. And in the featured San Gorgonio Handicap, scheduled as the third race, Wait a Minute and Costume, the two top early-line favorites, were scratched.

Rainouts are commonplace in baseball, but not horse racing.

“I raced here 28 years,” said former jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, “and my guess is, maximum, we had five rainouts. And those were usually after one or two races and the jockeys complained about the riding conditions.”

No one at the track Sunday could recall there being two days in a row of canceled racing.

The ramifications are far-reaching, meaning lost revenue for the track, horsemen and the state, which gets tax money from the wagering.

Trainer Barry Abrams pointed out another problem.

“I can handle losing two days of racing,” he said, “but what I can’t handle is not being able to train my horses.”

Sunday morning, there were some horses out on the dirt training track inside the turf course, but Abrams said that track is getting beat up by the rain and all the horses using it because of the unavailability of the main track for training. He said he won’t put his horses on it.

Abrams also said he and other trainers are exploring the possibility of shipping their horses to Del Mar to train. He said he had already looked into shipping to Hollywood Park but those barns are full.

Richard Shapiro, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, announced late Saturday that a special teleconference meeting will be held Tuesday to discuss the possibility of holding Santa Anita races at Hollywood Park if the problems at the Arcadia track persist.

But Ron Charles, Santa Anita president, said such a scenario is highly unlikely “unless we get a tremendous amount of rain that doesn’t let up for about two weeks.”

A larger than usual crowd of horsemen, trainers, jockeys and racing officials gathered at Clockers’ Corner at Santa Anita on Sunday morning to inspect the track, wait for word on that day’s races, and express opinions, of which there were many.

Some blamed the state racing board and Shapiro for not giving California’s major thoroughbred tracks enough time to test and experiment with synthetic tracks before installing them.

Others defended the move toward synthetic tracks, saying it was necessary to make conditions safer for horses and riders.

Jockey Corey Nakatani said, “There is no one to blame here. It’s just an unfortunate situation.”

Former jockey Gary Stevens said, “My thinking is, when Mother Nature says don’t run, you don’t run. Canceling a race day is not the end of the world.”

Said Delahoussaye: “I don’t have an opinion because there is nothing to base it on. We’ve never had anything like this.”

Times staff writer Bob Mieszerski contributed to this report.

larry.stewart@latimes.com