A Morning at Santa Anita: Workouts and the Seabiscuit Tour

Every time I have a chance to go the Santa Anita Park, the Great Race Place, I jump–or should I say gallop?–at the opportunity. This past weekend, American Horse Publications hosted a little mixer event for members and guests. It was awesome on many levels. The last time I went to Santa Anita was to watch the morning workouts at Breeders’ Cup in 2016. My whole purpose was to catch a glimpse of America’s favorite copper horse–California Chrome. Read about my Chrome sighting here. And the last time I had been on the Seabiscuit tour was probably at least ten years ago. It was time to return!

If you have never been to morning workouts at Santa Anita and you love Thoroughbreds like I do, you will be in heaven. You can park for free (enter at Gate B over by the shopping mall), have a coffee and breakfast burrito at Clocker’s Corner and glory in all the gorgeous horses as they go speeding by. You might even osberve racing celebrities stroll past you.

Meet and Greet with a Little Horse History

Tracy, who organized our AHP get together seemed to know pretty much everyone at the track and so when Bob Baffert walked by, she said hello and he paused to talk to our group. We got the scoop on a special horse McKinzie that will hopefully be a contender for the Kentucky Derby. Tracy later pointed out Zenyatta’s trainer as he walked by and a bunch of other folks I cannot remember now.

In addition to Tracy the organizer, Debbie who is the host of Horsemanship Radio and is Monty Roberts’ daughter was there with her good sport of a horse hubby. I learned so much horsey history from spending a few hours with these women! For example, did you know that Monty used to train racehorses? And when the Queen’s people first contacted him regarding horse training he was convinced it was a joke! 🙂 And Tracy knows the man who was Knight’s race trainer. I was thrilled to hear he is a good horseman.

The Elusive Flying Lead Change and the Backside

The other cool thing that I knew about in theory but had never really seen in action was the flying lead change mid-race. Tracy writes for BloodHorse and is a horse racing encyclopedia; she was able to point out to me the exact spot on the track where the lead change takes place. As a number of horses galloped past while exercising she would say, “there!” and “there!” and then I knew when to look for it so it became quite noticeable.

As the workouts tapered off, we boarded an Disneylandesque shuttle that whisked us to the backside of the track. We took in the sights of more wraps than I’ve seen in one place, the stall that belonged to Seabiscuit and the stall of a more recent wonder horse: American Pharoah. (Back to Tracy knowing everyone at the track. She’s also met Pharoah up close and personal and apparently he is just as pleasant of a horse as they say he is.) I learned that many of the trainers at Santa Anita do not use machine hotwalkers, preferring horses to be handwalked the old-fashioned way–by a human.

A Sea of Silks and the Jockey’s Locker Room

When the shuttle part of our tour came to an end, we then trekked over to get a behind-the-scenes peek of the room with all the racing silks and where the jockeys hang out. Because there was racing scheduled for the afternoon (sadly, I didn’t get to stay due to previously scheduled weekend plans), we had to go through these rooms rather quickly. I would have loved to know how the silks are organized and who washes them. Do the jockeys have to find them themselves or is there someone in charge of the room–like for a theater costume department? Do the silks just magically show up by their locker?

All of the boots gleamed and the colors in the room totally popped. By the way, I am trying to identify which jockey is in that framed photo on the right (leave a comment if you think you know). Also, notice the pool noodles used as boot trees! Genius! We went through another room that looked like a lounge and Laffit Pincay was talking to a small group of riders. It seemed like a casual coaching session, but I didn’t want to pause and totally eavesdrop.

Statues, Drafts and a Little Good CARMA

When that section ended we walked over to the Seabiscuit and George Wolf statues. I had seen these before on my own, but was enlightened with more details about both. For example, if you watch the movie Seabiscuit, apparently there is a scene where you can actually see the Seabiscuit statute–which was not there (obviously) when Seabiscuit was racing. I’ve seen the movie multiple times but never even noticed that. Next time I will have to look (and I have to watch it again since I got to meet and am kind of friends with one of the horse actors from Seabiscuit). Also, the George Wolf statue shows a rubberband on his hand since during that era, jockeys actually used a rubberband to help them hang on to leather reins that would slip when wet. Fun fact!

We also got to meet two beautiful Clydesdale mares Sally and Nora. They are owned by the tour guide and used for special events at the track as a driving team.

Following that I popped my head in to visit Natalie, my friend who works for CARMA. She has one of the coolest jobs I can think of. She’s basically a horse social worker, assisting placement of retiring race horses into appropriate re-training and aftercare situations. If you want to find a cool OTTB to own and love, Natalie is someone you should definitely speak with. Email me and I can connect you two.

I packed in a ton during my short time at Santa Anita Park that morning: networking, touring, spectating, learning. And when I came home, I had the chance to ride my favorite race horse ever: my adorable, Tiznow-sired OTTB Knight.  I took this picture and kissed his cute little nose.

One thing I realized is that as exciting as the racetrack is, it pales in comparison to the ongoing excitement of owning and loving a beautiful ex-racehorse of my very own.

Chime In! Have you been to Santa Anita for racing or morning workouts? Did you catch the Seabiscuit Tour? What other tracks have you been to? Or, do you own and love a special TB? Leave a comment and engage with your fellow horse-crazy peeps!

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