Racing returned to Santa Anita with opening day Friday. Fourteen stakes races are being held over three days.
California has significantly reduced the number of fatalities through reforms initiated by the California Horse Racing Board and the Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita. The track had 15 racing or training deaths this year, including one in training Thursday.
It’s not as if controversy has left the track as a few storylines for this weekend’s racing go through trainer Bob Baffert. The Hall of Famer has been under attack after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive for a legal anti-inflammatory that is not permitted on race day. It was Baffert’s fifth medication overage in a year.
Medina Spirit is the centerpiece of Saturday’s Grade 1 $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes as the 3-year-old will be running against older horses for the first time. A win earns a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the sport’s most important race outside the Triple Crown.
Medina Spirit was supposed to run in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby last Saturday, but Baffert scratched him after the draw, saying he didn’t like the post, but that wasn’t the entire reason.
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