Santa Anita Park cancelled its eight-race Presidents Day card Monday as a three-day storm bore down on the Los Angeles area, the sixth time this season that rain has knocked out a scheduled program at the Arcadia thoroughbred track.
The National Weather Service forecast called for rain chances of 80 to 100 percent Monday across the region, with possible thunderstorms and up to three inches of rainfall near the track, according to the Santa Anita announcement and NWS projections.
The storm prompted evacuation warnings for communities near the Palisades and Eaton burn scar areas in Los Angeles County.
Santa Anita said the eight races originally scheduled for Monday will be rescheduled, and a makeup day will be added to the Classic Meet before the season ends April 5, according to the track’s announcement. Racing is scheduled to resume Friday through Sunday, February 20-22.
Sunday’s nine-race card went off as planned, with first post at 12:30 p.m. The day’s featured race, the $100,000 Palos Verdes Stakes, was won by Man O Rose, according to results reported by the Pasadena Star-News.
The Monday cancellation is the first since January 4 but continues a rain-battered start to the 2025-26 Classic Meet. Opening day was pushed back from December 26 to December 28, and the track could not run four of its first seven scheduled cards. Two of those rainouts have been made up with added Thursday programs.
Cancelling racing during heavy rain is one of the safety protocols tracks adopted after a spike in fatal horse injuries at Santa Anita in early 2019, which coincided with a prolonged period of heavy rain in Southern California, according to reporting by the Pasadena Star-News.
Santa Anita Park, at 285 W. Huntington Drive, is in Arcadia, adjacent to Pasadena. Information about upcoming racing is available at santaanita.com or by calling (626) 574-7223.
The next scheduled racing at the track is Friday, February 20, with cards also set for Saturday and Sunday.
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