The Race Track at Santa Anita, circa 1949.
Horse racing this weekend – four races as called by Joe Hernandez. Three of the races were at Santa Anita, while the fourth race took place at Del Mar – All the races took place between June and August of 1949.
Santa Anita Park has been considered one of the most beautiful and finest horse race tracks in the world since its opening on Christmas Day 1934. It has also been one of the most consistently successful with record crowds of more than 85,000 attending a race in 1947 and again in 1985. Look magazine declared Santa Anita ‘The World’s Richest Racetrack’ in 1948. Santa Anita, under founder Charles H. Strub, introduced such innovations in the very first season as the photo finish and later a public address announcer calling the races. Santa Anita was also the first track in the United States to introduce a continuous $100,000 race — the “Hundred Grander” Santa Anita Handicap. Some of horse racing’s most famous horses and jockeys are most closely associated with Santa Anita, from Seabiscuit and John Henry to Citation, Spectacular Bid, and Zenyatta, and from George ‘The Iceman’ Woolf and Johnny Longden to Willie Shoemaker, Chris McCarron, and Laffit Pincay, Jr. Santa Anita was also the showcase venue for the equestrian events of the 1984 Olympics and hosted the Breeders’ Cup five times in that series’ first 25 years.
Anybody who has won big or lost their shirt has memories of Santa Anita – unlike Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Del Mar are still going strong. Still doing brisk business – still attracting record crowds. Same as in 1949, but in 1949 the horses were different, the jockeys were different and the calls were different.
Dive in for some vintage Horse Racing.
