Aidan Butler | Horse Racing Free Tips

Santa Anita To Provide Home For Non-Profit ‘Free Animal Doctor’

With an estimated 25 percent of America's pet owners unable to afford necessary veterinary care for approximately 24 million dogs and cats, Santa Anita Park will now provide a home for the non-profit Free Animal Doctor, which provides free veterinary surgeries for at-risk animals. Santa Anita management will also be working with Free Animal Doctor to extend its services to the track's backside community and other community groups in need, at no or low cost.

“There is a need for this type of small animal veterinary assistance locally and nationwide,” said Santa Anita's Aidan Butler, Acting Executive Director, CA Racing Operations for The Stronach Group. “We are well positioned to provide the assistance needed for the Free Animal Doctor clinic to administer necessary care for these precious animals, and we're honored to do so. We've let them know we are here to help in any way that we can.”

Free Animal Doctor (FAD), utilizes Crowdfunding to raise monies for specific pets and provides detailed itemized cost accounting which is directed by each animal's attending veterinarian.

“This serves to self-authenticate the cost of each surgery,” said FAD co-founder Sam Bernardo, who hopes to have FAD's veterinary “bus” fully operational in Santa Anita's parking Lot 7 by Sept. 15. “Once the money is raised for each individual animal's procedure, no additional money is accepted.”

Although a wide variety of surgeries will be performed, spaying and neutering will comprise the majority of the procedures taking place at Santa Anita. This important work also helps to assist community shelters from being overwhelmed by dogs and cats that do not have homes.

Bernardo, who is a practicing attorney, founded FAD four years ago with Ryan Boyd, who works in the local real estate industry.

“Our 'bus' is actually a 43-foot long mobile surgical hospital on a bus frame,” said Bernardo. “The facility was originally designed and used by the Spay, Neuter Action Program of San Diego. They donated it to us and we are so thankful that Santa Anita is providing us a home with independent sources of electricity and water, which are vital for surgical procedures.

“We've been operating for four years now and 80 percent of the animals that we've displayed on our website have gotten the required funding. With average costs ranging from $800 to $3,000, thirty percent of families that own these pets cannot afford the surgeries.”

Those interested are encouraged to visit FAD's website at www.freeanimaldoctor.org, where a photo and detailed description of each at-risk pet is provided.

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Santa Anita Adding New Turf Chute, Will Be Able To Run New Distances During December Meet

In a move that will ensure the most expansive turf racing program in the Western U.S., Santa Anita Park is in the process of adding a brand new turf course chute, which will enable the track to offer fans and horsemen a wide array of turf sprints that heretofore had not been available.

Under the direction of track consultant Dennis Moore, the new chute, which will run parallel to the seven furlong main track chute, will cross the dirt oval and join up with the turf oval at approximately the five furlong pole and be available for usage beginning opening day of Santa Anita's traditional Winter/Spring Meeting on Dec. 26.

The new turf chute, which is 80 feet wide and approximately 800 feet long, will comfortably accommodate sprint races at distances of 6 ½, six, 5 ½ and five furlongs on “the flat,” while Santa Anita's traditional Camino Real Hillside Course will continue to be available to horses running distances of a mile and a quarter and up.

“Turf racing has always been popular and it's even more so now,” said Santa Anita's Aidan Butler, who serves as Executive Director of California Racing Operations for The Stronach Group. “This new turf chute gives our Racing Office great deal more programmability. By that I mean that we'll have significantly more options and the turf will now be more available to horses of various classifications.

“Safety is of course our absolute top priority and that's one of the most exciting aspects of this project. We're confident this is going to be well received by everyone, including our fans, who've grown to love the spectacle of watching horses run over the Santa Anita turf—there's nothing like it in North American racing.”

With good turf racing a huge priority, Santa Anita will now be in a position to offer a greater variety of turf events than ever before and it is expected these new turf sprints will provide players with consistently large fields and enticing gambling opportunities while enabling Moore's maintenance crews to better maintain the condition of the turf.

“With a longer, truer run into the far turn, horses tend to sort themselves out and you don't have so much wear and tear on the course as you do with a shorter run,” said Moore. “We got to work on this project on Aug. 17 and it's going very well. We're going to have a very smooth transition for horses running six and 6 ½ furlongs when they cross the main track. First of all, it's early in the race and they'll be running in a straight line. We're in the process of bringing in enough fill (dirt) to elevate the chute and get it pretty much on the same level as the main track crossing.”

Moore also noted that the new chute will be comprised of the same Bandera Bermuda hybrid turf that's currently utilized on the turf oval and hillside.

With the exception of a slight alteration to the outside rail which enabled the track to begin running five furlong turf sprints in September, 2018, this turf chute project represents the first significant alteration to Santa Anita's world famous Camino Real Course, which was unveiled on Dec. 26, 1953.

Live racing will return to Santa Anita on Saturday, September 19, opening day of the track's 18-day Autumn Meeting.

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Santa Anita To Honor Late Sherwood Chillingworth With Stakes Race

The memory of Sherwood Chillingworth, the longtime director and executive vice president of the Oak Tree Racing Association, will be honored with The Chillingworth Stakes to be run during Santa Anita's Autumn season. Known throughout the racing industry as “Chilly”, the veteran racing executive passed away last October at the age of 93.

“Chilly was one of the sport's true gentlemen,” said Aidan Butler, Executive Director of California Racing Operations for The Stronach Group. “He was full of life and loved racing. He actually lived here at Santa Anita and was such a part of this place, that it is only appropriate for us to honor him with The Chillingworth Stakes.”

Chillingworth first served as an Oak Tree director in 1989 and was named executive vice president in 1993, just prior to the first of four Breeders' Cups that he oversaw at Santa Anita. He also raced a number of Thoroughbreds in the name of his Paniolo Ranch or in partnerships, including Grade I winners Swing Till Dawn, Yashgan, Forzando and Valley Victory.

The Chillingworth name will be placed on the stakes race formerly named LA Woman Stakes, a Grade III event for fillies and mares three years old and up. Prior to 2009, the race was run during the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita as the Louis R. Rowan, named after one of the founders of the Oak Tree Racing Association.

“Santa Anita is about tradition and, especially now during this pandemic when we all long for what has been traditional, we are embracing the importance of our history,” Butler continued. “That includes examining not only the names of our stakes races, but every little detail that makes Santa Anita so special.”

The complete list of stakes races for Santa Anita's upcoming Autumn season will be available Friday afternoon at www.santaanita.com/stakes-schedule/.

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Santa Anita to Honor Chillingworth With Stake During Autumn Meet

Sherwood Chillingworth, the longtime director and executive vice president of the Oak Tree Racing Association who passed away last October at 93, will be honored with The Chillingworth S.-formerly the LA Woman S.–to be contested during Santa Anita’s Autumn season. Prior to 2009, the Grade III contest for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up was run during the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita as the Louis R. Rowan S., named after one of the founders of the Oak Tree Racing Association.

“Chilly was one of the sport’s true gentlemen,” said Aidan Butler, Executive Director of California Racing Operations for The Stronach Group. “He was full of life and loved racing. He actually lived here at Santa Anita and was such a part of this place, that it is only appropriate for us to honor him with The Chillingworth S.”

Chillingworth first served as an Oak Tree director in 1989 and was named executive vice president in 1993, just prior to the first of four Breeders’ Cups that he oversaw at Santa Anita. He also raced a number of Thoroughbreds in the name of his Paniolo Ranch or in partnerships, including Grade I winners Swing Till Dawn, Yashgan, Forzando and Valley Victory.

For Santa Anita’s complete Autumn stakes schedule, visit www.santaanita.com/stakes-schedule/.

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