1/9/2025

So Cal Fires near Pasadena threaten Santa Anita

Extreme weather conditions are hammering the horse race industry to the point of threatening one of the most historic tracks of literally burning down. The Southern California wildfires, specifically the Eaton fire that broke out near Pasadena looked like it might come directly at Santa Anita. Fortunately for “the great race place” the fire was to the west of Santa Anita and the stiff westerly Santa Ana winds blew the fire away from the historic track. 

Santa Anita has not been evacuated and has avoided from being in the path of the fast moving firestorm. The concern was if the winds changed direction it could put it square in the crosshairs. Currently the track is just outside what fire officials are calling the “red zone”  but could change at a moments notice.

One thing helping Santa Anita is the large cement parking lots surrounding the facility and is serving as a buffer. But if the wind changes the concern would be the embers floating across the pavement and igniting a fire. But at this time it is safe and the expected increase in winds Thursday and Friday remain easterly or off-shore away from Santa Anita.

Racing still at risk for undetermined amount of time

Santa Anita has cancelled racing for Friday, January 10. A decision for the weekend cards will be made on Friday. The January 10 races have been re-scheduled for next Thursday, January 16. If this weekend’s card gets cancelled there is no word on when or if those races would be re-scheduled.

Firefighters will tell you that the smoke of a fire is far more dangerous than the flames. The toxic smoke can incapacitate you for quicker than the flames themselves. This is the danger for horses as well and just like humans all horses are different like some people suffer from asthma and other respiratory issues that would be inflamed by smoke and others can handle it better. 

ESN talked with Del Mar’s John Lies who works in the race office but is also the racing secretary and track announcer at Will Rogers race track in Oklahoma about what Santa Anita will likely do over the next few days.

Lies says he doesn’t know how they could possibly run this weekend and expects those days to be cancelled. Lies says it has to be one day at a time for his Santa Anita colleagues. There are more things to consider than just whether they could host a racing card or not.

Lies says the trauma and respect for the local community has to be taken into consideration. There will be logistical concerns such as passable roadways and moving horses from off track to on track. Training has been closed due to the air quality and if the winds stop and the hulking masses of devastation sit there and smolder is not going to be a quick turn-around.

Air Quality is a big deal

We also talked with Emerald Downs trainer Kay Cooper who remembers when Emerald Downs had to shut down due to air quality from the massive forest fires that funneled the smoke into the Puget Sound region. Cooper says this is serious business and she would have to evaluate each of her horses and see how healthy they were before deciding to run them.

Cooper says many of her equine athletes suffer from weaker lungs than others and the smoke that we dealt with in Washington was from mostly forest fire, trees and brush. She says these fires near Santa Anita are literally everything from trees and brush to tar roofs, full buildings with insulation, cars and vehicles burning and smoldering. This smoke is extremely toxic and unhealthy and it’s not like anyone is strapping an N-95 mask on their horses.

Additionally, their training routines from a full out work-out to the simple daily gallops have been taken away and it’s pretty hard on the horses to simply push them back into a race when they haven’t been doing anything than maybe walking around the barn a little bit.

Cooper hopes they would simply shut down for this week and said as a trainer she wouldn’t be opposed if the decision was made to shut down for a few weeks to allow the community to get over the emotional shock from this horrific firestorm. She said she would have big doubts of running any of her horses anytime soon until she knew they were 100% healthy and back into racing form she would expect.

From Fire to Ice

 The fires are one issue then in the middle of the country to the east coast is another issue and that is freezing cold temperatures. Several tracks cancelled their cards on Wednesday including Aqueduct, Turfway and Charleston due to the frigid temperatures. Oaklawn Park has cancelled all three days of their racing this weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There will likely be additional cancellations announced. You can click this link to the Equibase cancellation page for updates.

We again talked with Cooper about the dangers of running in extreme cold and she said simply it’s all about the health of the horse. She said like humans when it’s cold and you’re not warmed up muscle pulls, ligament issues and general stiffness can all be issues and could make minor issues worse.

She says despite track crews best efforts of soft dirt to run on you’re still limited to how much you can do in severe sub-freezing temperatures. The ground is going to freeze and can make for some uneven surfaces.

The quick temperature rise in a horse warmed up and running and then immediately after cooling down in freezing temperatures is also something to be concerned with. In the end, it’s easy for her, if it’s not healthy for a person then it’s not healthy for a horse. 

The racing industry seems to always limp through these winter months but never from such polar opposite reasons, usually snow, ice, sleet or even heavy rains. This year not only the are the wildfires a surprise but how fast the massive devastation has struck. Maybe worry about where thousands of people are going to call home over the next few weeks and a cautionary, thoughtful, respectful and measured schedule back to racing is the right thing to do.

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