It could be said that no area in the United States has more historical connections to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships than the region of Southern California. The inaugural Breeders’ Cup back in 1984 was held at Hollywood Park, situated in Inglewood, California. Since that initial event, racetracks located in Southern California have been the venue for the World Championships on 16 additional occasions, with yet another event planned for October 31 to November 1 at Del Mar.
Santa Anita Park boasts the most times hosting, with 11 Breeders’ Cups under its belt. This attractive Arcadia track, set against the stunning backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains, has also been the designated site for a series of Breeders’ Cup preparatory races in the early autumn season. These races are consistently vital steppingstones for racehorses aiming for champion status and their associated teams.
There are several reasons why Santa Anita is favored as a starting point for the Breeders’ Cup. These include generally favorable weather conditions throughout the year, a bustling training environment, and a tradition of high-caliber competition. For almost nine decades, this has been intrinsically linked to the essence of Thoroughbred racing in North America. Looking back, influential figures such as Charlie Whittingham, Seabiscuit, Mesh Tenney, Bill Shoemaker, Native Diver, and Gamely consistently made headlines in the national horse racing scene. In the era of the Breeders’ Cup, the accomplishments of trainers like Bob Baffert, Richard Mandella, Bobby Frankel, and John Sadler, together with a prominent lineup of jockeys and racehorses, have established Southern California as the essential destination during the autumn season when it’s time to award championship accolades. The Breeders’ Cup has occurred in this locale eight times over the 13 years since 2012, with six held at Santa Anita and three (soon to be four) at Del Mar.
“In more recent times, preparing horses for the Breeders’ Cup towards the end of August has become [more common], yet I remain confident that our autumn dirt preps for the Breeders’ Cup will continue to draw strong competitors regardless,” commented Steve Martinelli, the racing director at Santa Anita. “We are sometimes successful in attracting horses from the eastern states, along with those from the surrounding areas, to perform well [in the event]. Consequently, the combination of the conducive weather, the Breeders’ Cup taking place in California, and a significant number of trainers specializing in top dirt horses here, are all contributing factors.”
Santa Anita’s significant position dates back to the early years of the World Championships, when the Oak Tree Racing Association meet was at its peak. The Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita began in 1969 after a proposal by prominent California horsemen, led by Clement Hirsch, to Santa Anita President Robert Strub to conduct 20 days of racing to fill a gap in the California racing calendar. Oak Tree, established as a charitable organization dedicated to supporting California’s Thoroughbred industry, leased Santa Anita for racing dates, and the boutique meet was an immediate success.
Oak Tree served as the official organizer for the initial five Breeders’ Cups hosted at Santa Anita in 1986, 1993, 2003, 2008, and 2009. However, its impact started in the opening year of 1984 when Chief’s Crown, Star Crown Stable’s 2-year-old colt, was victorious in the Norfolk Stakes during the Oak Tree meet and subsequently secured the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile title at Hollywood Park.
The Oak Tree Racing Association’s seasonal arrangement with Santa Anita Park ended in 2010, but the nonprofit continues to support California racing to this day, sponsoring the Oak Leaf Stakes Presented by Oak Tree during Santa Anita’s fall meet. This 1 1/16-mile dirt race serves as a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Juvenile Fillies. Its counterpart during the fall is the American Pharoah Stakes – formerly recognized as the Norfolk Stakes and FrontRunner Stakes – conducted over an equal distance for male horses.
Through the years, both of these Santa Anita preparatory races have significantly influenced the outcomes of the Breeders’ Cup and have played a role in creating champions within the 2-year-old male and female categories. This influence can be attributed, in part, to the impact D. Wayne Lukas had on the sport during the 1980s and 1990s and the ongoing influence of Bob Baffert since the 1990s. Lukas was based in Southern California when he shifted his focus from Quarter Horses to become a leading Thoroughbred trainer, and Baffert, following the same career path, has remained there throughout his career. Both trainers have established their reputations by developing young horses into contenders for the Kentucky Derby or Kentucky Oaks, with appearances at the Breeders’ Cup during their initial racing season frequently being a part of their development.
During the fall of 1986, Capote, trained by Lukas, achieved consecutive victories in the then-named Norfolk Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree meet when it was the venue for the World Championships for the first time. More recently, Baffert has trained three 2-year-olds who triumphed in both the American Pharoah and Juvenile races: Game Winner in 2018, Corniche in 2021, and Citizen Bull in the previous year. Three of these four eventual champions (excluding Game Winner) displayed speed, which is a fundamental characteristic of California dirt racing, in abundance.
In total, six colts who have secured victories in the Norfolk/FrontRunner/American Pharoah Stakes have subsequently progressed to win the BC Juvenile, and a number of other noteworthy horses finished second in the latter race, including Cave Rock and Muth, trained by Baffert, in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Regarding female horses, six 2-year-old fillies have achieved victories in both the Oak Tree Stakes (known as the Chandelier Stakes from 2012 to 2023) and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, most notably Halfbridled in 2003 and Songbird in 2015, both of whom concluded their juvenile campaigns undefeated.
Santa Anita’s premier Breeders’ Cup preps for older male and female dirt horses have also exerted considerable influence over the decades. The Goodwood Stakes, contested over 1 1/8 miles, has produced five winners who subsequently captured the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic: Ferdinand in 1987, Tiznow in 2000, Pleasantly Perfect in 2003, Mucho Macho Man in 2013, and Accelerate in 2018. This year, the Goodwood will revert to its original name after being known as the Awesome Again Stakes for several years and the California Crown Stakes in 2024.
In 1993, Santa Anita introduced the Lady’s Secret Stakes as its prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. This race, held over a distance of 1 1/16 miles, was named to honor the D. Wayne Lukas-trained 1986 Horse of the Year and Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner. However, in 2012, it was renamed to recognize a more recent superstar who had won the race three consecutive times from 2008 to 2010. Zenyatta utilized the Lady’s Secret as a stepping stone to victories in the Distaff in 2008, the Classic in 2009, and a heartbreaking runner-up effort in the 2010 Classic. The living legend is one of four fillies or mares to win her namesake prep and the Distaff in the same year. Another Hall of Famer, Beholder, is the last to achieve the double; she won the Zenyatta Stakes three years in a row as well, from 2013-’15, and followed her 2013 win up with a Distaff score on the same Santa Anita track. (Beholder finished off her career with a thrilling Breeders’ Cup Distaff win at Santa Anita in 2016, one race after finishing second in the Zenyatta.)
Santa Anita also hosts two Breeders’ Cup preps for turf horses during its fall meet – the City of Hope Mile Stakes and the Rodeo Drive Stakes – and this year the track’s signature fall dirt sprint race, the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes, returns to the Challenge Series schedule after a three-year absence. Six different horses have won that six-furlong dash and then the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, including Roy H back-to-back in 2017 and 2018. The group includes MyRacehorse’s Straight No Chaser last year, who did not earn an automatic berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint by virtue of winning the Santa Anita Sprint Championship but went on to the Sprint at Del Mar and won impressively.
Santa Anita Park enters its fall 2025 meet following successful Classic (winter) and Hollywood (spring) meets that showed improvement in betting handle, purses, and field size after horses from Northern California were integrated into the racing population and simulcast revenue from the north was redirected south. Continuing that momentum will be the focus going forward, Martinelli said, with the track’s autumn Breeders’ Cup preps an integral part of bolstering a Southern California circuit that now serves the entire state’s Thoroughbred industry.
“I’m expecting that Del Mar is going to do very well,” Martinelli said. “I know [Del Mar racing secretary] David Jerkens just said he’s got about 300 new horses down there, and stall space is at a premium. We even ran into a stall crunch ourselves during the Classic meet here, what I’ve been told was unprecedented in the last few years, so we expect the same when we come back in the fall.”
