Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races including both the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap as well as hosting the Breeders' Cup in 1986, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2023. In 1984, Santa Anita was the site of equestrian events at the 1984 Olympics. Since 2011, the Stronach Group are the current owners.
The Breeders' Cup Sprint is an American Weight for Age Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for horses three years old and older. Run on dirt Corrected grade for Santa Anita sprintover a distance of 6 Furlongs, the race has been held annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships.
Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to the racetrack complex. Horse racing and training were shut down in December 2013 though the casino operations continued until a new state of the art casino building, the new Hollywood Park Casino, opened in October 2016.
Robert A. Baffert is an American racehorse trainer who is considered one of the most successful and influential trainers in the history of horse racing. He has trained two Triple Crown winners: American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. Baffert's horses have won the Kentucky Derby six times, tying the record with Ben A. Jones for wins by a trainer. He holds the trainer record for Preakness Stakes with eight wins and has won the Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Oaks three times each.
The Del Mar Fairgrounds is an event venue in Del Mar, California. It hosts the annual San Diego County Fair. The venue sits on a 370-acre (1.5 km2) property along the Pacific Ocean coastline. It includes the Del Mar Racetrack, built in 1936 by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, with founding member Bing Crosby providing leadership.
The Clement L. Hirsch Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares age three years and older over a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt track, scheduled annually in late July or early August at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. The event currently carries a purse of $400,000.
A graded stakes race is a thoroughbred horse race in the United States that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). A specific grade level is then assigned to the race, based on statistical analysis of the quality of the field in previous years, provided the race meets the minimum purse criteria for the grade in question. In Canada, a similar grading system is maintained by the Jockey Club of Canada. Graded stakes races are similar to Group races in Europe but the grading is more dynamic in North America.
The Hawthorne Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1965 at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, Illinois near Chicago. Raced in October, it is open to three-year-old horses. In 2024, it was contested for a purse of $150,000 over a distance of 1+1⁄8 miles on turf.
Aaron Tod Gryder is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey.
Chantal Sutherland is a Canadian model, television personality and jockey in North American Thoroughbred horse racing. She is referred to as the Danica Patrick of horse racing. She is known for her appearances on the reality tv show, Jockeys on Animal Planet, as well as being the poster girl for the Del Mar racetrack. During an interview on Sky Sports in the lead-up to the Dubai World Cup race, she said that her primary vocation was jockey.
W-L Ranch Co. was an American Thoroughbred horse racing and breeding partnership between Hollywood film studio executive Harry M. Warner and film director Mervyn LeRoy. Warner's daughter, Doris, was married to Mervyn LeRoy.
Sandpit (1989–2003) was a Brazilian Champion Thoroughbred racehorse that also met with considerable success racing in the United States. In a career that lasted from 1992 until 1997, he ran forty times and won fourteen races. Which is a winning percentage of 35%.
The Junior Miss Stakes was an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-old fillies held annually at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California from 1952 through 1992. It was run as a Grade III race over a distance of 6 furlongs on dirt.
Ruler on Ice is a Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 2011 Belmont Stakes. He was bred and foaled in Kentucky by Brandywine Farm in partnership with Liberation Farm on. He is a chestnut gelding sired by Hill 'n' Dale Farms' Roman Ruler out of the Saratoga Six-bred mare, Champagne Glow. The colt was consigned as lot 988 at the 2009 Keeneland September yearling auction, where he was purchased by George and Lori Hall for $100,000. Ruler on Ice only won one minor race after winning the Belmont and was retired from racing in July 2014. He lives in Versailles, Kentucky at the farm of his owners.
Points Offthebench was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his performances over sprint distances. Campaigned exclusively in California, he was lightly raced in his early career, running twice a two-year-old in 2011 and once in the following year. As a four-year-old in 2013 he began by racing against moderate opposition before emerging as one of the best sprinters in North America with Grade I victories in the Bing Crosby Stakes and the Santa Anita Sprint Championship. Preparing for the Breeders' Cup, he fractured his leg during a workout and was euthanized. At the end of the year, he was posthumously named American Champion Sprint Horse.
Arrogate was a Thoroughbred racehorse.
McKinzie is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was a multiple graded stakes winner and came first or second in fourteen of his eighteen races.
Drayden Van Dyke is a jockey in thoroughbred racing. At graded stakes races, Van Dyke has won 67 events ranging from Grade I to Grade III. Of these wins, Van Dyke has won both the Starlet Stakes and Yellow Ribbon Handicap four times. As a Breeders' Cup jockey, Van Dyke won the Turf Sprint event at the 2018 Breeders' Cup. He was also runner-up at the Breeders' Cup Mile event in 2018 and the Dirt Mile at the 2021 Breeders' Cup.
Sardula was an American Thoroughbred racemare who, as a two-year-old in 1993 finished second by a nose in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies then won the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet Stakes. At age three, Sardula's wins included the prestigious Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.
Flightline is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who retired undefeated after six starts, including the 2021 Malibu Stakes and the Metropolitan Handicap, Pacific Classic and Breeders' Cup Classic in 2022. In the January 2023 World's Best Racehorse Rankings, he was given a rating of 140, the highest ever awarded to a runner on the dirt. He was named the 2022 American Horse of the Year and Champion Older Horse.
