The iconic racing venue in Southern California, Santa Anita Park, is preparing to welcome attendees back for its 2025 Autumn Meet, with the opening day scheduled for Friday, Sept. 26, and the festivities lasting until Sunday, Oct. 26. This event is highly anticipated by wagering enthusiasts, as Santa Anita’s Autumn Meet offers excitement for racing devotees, significant opportunities for those looking to place bets, and a lineup of superior races held on both dirt and turf surfaces.
Apart from the daily schedule of high-caliber races that span across various levels, Santa Anita has organized an impressive program of 22 stakes races spread over the 16 days of racing. These stakes races are deliberately scheduled to provide crucial preparation for horses intending to participate in this fall’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which will take place at Del Mar.
Enhancements to the wagering options include a new feature called the $1 Sunset Pick 6. This betting choice will have a reduced takeout of 15% and encompass the last three races from both Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park on days when both racetracks have concurrent racing events.
The Sunset Pick 6 forms part of a wide spectrum of wagering opportunities that will be available during the Santa Anita fall meet. The well-known $2 Pick 6 will be presented in the closing six races of each race day. Alongside the standard range of betting pools commonly provided, Santa Anita will also reintroduce betting options with a 15% takeout rate that have grown in popularity locally, such as the $5 late Daily Double, $3 late Pick 3, and the $3 All-Turf Pick 3.
Exploring Santa Anita – the Celebrated Race Place
When studying races at Santa Anita, gamblers can benefit from understanding specific dynamics and patterns to potentially enhance their betting accuracy. Here are various observations that bettors might find valuable during the upcoming Santa Anita autumn races.
The layout of Santa Anita’s dirt track can influence outcomes through the effect of post positions and the advantages of specific running styles. Regarding dirt sprints, horses with high early speed are generally favored. Horses coming from the rear typically struggle. Examining data from various Santa Anita meets over the last year, there were 310 dirt sprints, and 179 of these races (58%) were won by horses that either led early or stayed close to the pace (within one length of the lead). This shows a considerable benefit. Horses that were 1-4 lengths behind the pace at the start won 105 dirt sprints which comes out to about 34%, in comparison, closers, which started four or more lengths back, managed to win only 26 of the 310 dirt sprints, accounting for just 8%. The influence of the starting post location on the outcome of dirt sprints at Santa Anita over the past year seemed minimal.
Having early speed is also useful in dirt route races, and getting an inside post position in these longer races may also improve a horse’s chances of winning. Over the past year, Santa Anita held 158 dirt route races (including those at one mile), with fast horses running on or near the front winning 83 of the 158 races, or 53% of the time. Horses that followed close behind won 35% of the route races, whereas those starting from further back won only 12%.
Throughout the past year, Santa Anita’s dirt route races featured an average of 6.84 horses competing in each race. As for the impact of post positions, inside gates were advantageous, as horses starting from posts 1-3 won 78 of the races, making up almost half of all route wins.
Patterns on Santa Anita Turf
Santa Anita’s turf course is renowned as one of the premier locations for grass racing in the country. Generally, it offers a fair race to all running styles and paths. Winners come from the front, from the middle, and from the back with some frequency. Keeping to the inside and within striking distance of the lead gives a distinct advantage, but with its spacious turns and long straightaways, horses starting from outside posts can be successful regardless of running style.
In the past year, 217 turf route races at Santa Anita showed that horses with a stalking style had a slight edge over speed horses and closers. Stalkers, positioned 1-4 lengths off the leader, won 95 of the 217 races, or 44% of the time. Front-runners were victorious in 33% of the turf route races, while closers won 23% of the races.
Santa Anita has a history as a hub for turf sprint races, especially due to its unique 6 ½-furlong downhill turf course. More recently, an increased number of turf sprints are being held using a backstretch chute that allows for races at multiple distances, typically at six furlongs.
On the 6 ½-furlong downhill turf course, the layout includes a right-hand turn shortly after the start. Based on years of observed results in these races, many handicappers believe that starting from the inside posts (1-3) puts horses at a disadvantage. Looking at the running styles of horses in a limited sample of 39 downhill turf sprints over the past year, those with speed and stalkers fared better than closers.
Flat turf sprints starting from the backstretch turf chute have become more common at Santa Anita than downhill turf sprints. There were 170 of these races in the past year. When considering running style and post-position biases, the flat Santa Anita turf sprints are seen as remarkably fair, with similar chances of success regardless of starting position at distances between five and 6 1/2 furlongs. The popular six-furlong distance was the most balanced: Speed horses were first in 35.6% of the six-furlong races, stalkers won 34.9% of them, and closers took the remaining 29.5% of the races.
Trainer Analysis for the Santa Anita Fall Meet
To identify leading trainers at the 2025 Santa Anita fall meet, a helpful approach is to analyze the results from the equivalent meet the previous year.
In the 2024 Santa Anita autumn meet, Bob Baffert was the leading trainer with 14 wins out of 44 starts, achieving a 32% win rate. Mark Glatt, who led in 2023 with 12 wins (24%), had 7 wins in 2024 (17%). This placed him in a tie for fifth in the trainer standings. Phil D’Amato was second in the trainer rankings for the last three autumn seasons, securing 13 wins last year, 11 wins two years prior, and 15 wins in 2022.
The remaining trainers in the top seven for the 2024 Santa Anita Autumn Meet were George Papaprodromou (12 wins, 31%), Doug O’Neill (10 wins, 20%), Michael McCarthy (7 wins, 18%), and Peter Miller, who had led in the 2022 fall meet but secured 6 wins last fall (14%).
For an alternate comparison, the recently concluded Del Mar summer meet saw Baffert securing the top spot with 24 wins from 80 starts (30%). Glatt took second place with 18 wins (19%), followed by Miller (18 wins, 15%), D’Amato (17 wins, 13%), and John Sadler, who recorded 16 wins from 79 starts (20%).
Leading Jockeys at Santa Anita
When considering jockeys for the upcoming meet, Juan Hernandez is expected to be a strong contender for the title, based on his leading performance at last year’s autumn Santa Anita meet where he achieved 25 wins from 103 rides (24%). The second and third highest win totals were achieved by Umberto Rispoli (15 wins, 17%) and Antonio Fresu (14 wins, 17%). Completing the top five were Hector Berrios and T.J. Pereira, each with 10 wins. Notably, Mike Smith, despite only having 22 rides during the fall meet, secured six wins, which included victories in several stakes races, positioning him second only to Hernandez in terms of total purse earnings.
Hernandez previously won the 2023 autumn meet title at Santa Anita with 24 wins (25%) and recently dominated the Del Mar summer meet with 45 wins (27%). Fresu came in second at Del Mar (37 wins, 17%), Berrios finished third (26 wins, 19%), and Rispoli tied for fourth (23 wins, 18%) with Kazushi Kimura (23 wins, 11%).
Get ready for an exceptional season of racing and betting opportunities at Santa Anita Park. Enjoy the meet and best of luck.
2025 Autumn Meet Wagering Choices
- Standard $2 Pick 6 offered for the last six races each day
- 50-cent Early Pick 5 with a 14% takeout, as well as the traditional 50-cent late Pick 5
- 50-cent Early Pick 4, involving races 2 through 5
- 50 cent Late Pick 4, covering the last four races of each day
- Progressive $2 Daily Doubles (except for the last two races)
- $5 Late Daily Double with a reduced 15% takeout rate on the final two races
- $3 All Turf Pick 3 with a 15% takeout, which includes the last three turf races of the day
- $3 Late Pick 3 with a 15% takeout applied to the last three races
- $1 Progressive Pick 3 beginning with the first race each day
- $1 Sunset 6, which combines the last three races at both Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park
- $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 with a 15% takeout
- $2 Win, Place and Show betting available on every race, featuring a 15.43% takeout
- $1 trifecta offered on each race with a minimum of four scheduled runners
- 10-cent superfecta provided on all races that have at least six scheduled runners
- $1 exacta available on each race
