Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Track gets approval to admit spectators starting April 2
Santa Anita will begin hosting a limited audience on April 2.
The track announced Thursday that customers will be allowed to attend that day, but must make advance reservations. Walk-up or general admission tickets will not be sold, per California government guidelines for reopening outdoor sporting venues.
Track officials said Thursday that they are awaiting government advice on how many customers will be permitted to attend. Regulations in Los Angeles and Orange counties were recently relaxed to allow limited indoor dining and audiences of as much as 25 percent capacity at outdoor sporting events.
Los Alamitos in Orange County is scheduled to begin hosting small audiences in the outdoor portions of its venue beginning with the evening program on April 2. The track currently is open to the public for daytime simulcasting.
Neither track has had a general ontrack audience for live racing since early March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The change in government policy also will benefit other sports in the state with outside venues, such as Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer.
In a statement, Santa Anita urged customers to register for additional information regarding the reopening at santaanita. com/open.
At Santa Anita, tickets will include a reserved seat, program, and parking. Fans must wear masks and follow social-distancing guidelines. Box seats, tables, and individual seats will be allotted with socialdistancing protocols in place.
With the latest development, Santa Anita will be able to host a small audience for the Santa Anita Derby program on April 3.
Track officials said Thursday they are working on details of what amenities will be provided when the racetrack reopens.
Hard Not to Love retired
Grade 1 winner Hard Not to Love was retired this week after disappointing results in two graded stakes at Santa Anita this year.
Trainer John Shirreffs said Hard Not to Love was flown to Kentucky on Friday.
The decision was made in recent days after Hard Not to Love worked five furlongs in 1:02.40 on Tuesday at Santa Anita, a slower-than-expected clocking.
“She seemed like she wasn’t quite as good as she was before,” Shirreffs said. “She’d been in training a long time without a break. It seemed like it was time to stop.”
A 5-year-old mare by Hard Spun, Hard Not to Love won 5 of 12 starts and earned $593,480 in a career highlighted by wins in two seven-furlong stakes at Santa Anita – the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in December 2019 and the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes against older fillies and mares in February 2020.
Hard Not to Love lost her final six starts, a span that included a second in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile last March. In two starts this year, Hard Not to Love was third in the Grade 3 La Canada Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 9 and seventh of nine in the Santa Monica Stakes on Feb. 13.
A one-eyed mare, Hard Not to Love was difficult to handle at times for jockeys, particularly in post parades.
“The rider had to get along with her,” Shirreffs said.
Hard Not to Love, purchased for $400,000 as a yearling, raced for the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds, Mercedes Stable, Scott Dilworth, Dottie and David Ingordo, and Steve Mooney.
Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds said Hard Not to Love will likely be bred to Curlin and offered at auction in Kentucky in November.
Ex-jockey Taniguchi dies at 94
George Taniguchi, who won more than 1,500 races in the 1950s and 1960s and later worked as a racing official at California tracks, died earlier this month after a brief illness, according to his niece, Donna Johnson.
Taniguchi was 94 and was at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., at the time of his death.
Taniguchi rode from 1954 to 1968 and was a jockeys’ room contemporary of such notable riders as Eddie Arcaro, John Longden, Ralph Neves, Bill Shoemaker, and Jack Westrope, to name a few.
Taniguchi was the leading apprentice rider at Hollywood Park in 1954 and rode at tracks throughout the nation. He recorded his richest win aboard Pappa’s All in the $218,940 Arlington Futurity on July 30, 1960, at Arlington Park, a week after the colt won the Hollywood Championship at Hollywood Park. That year, Taniguchi ranked 14th in the nation, with earnings of $835,307.
Taniguchi won 213 races at Hollywood Park in his career, including six stakes.
At Del Mar, Taniguchi won 11 stakes, notably the Del Mar Derby on Mr. Eiffel and Del Mar Handicap on Twentyone Guns, both in 1959.
Among other high-profile horses, Taniguchi rode Round Table to a win in the 1957 El Dorado Handicap at Hollywood Park, the year the 3-year-old was champion grass horse. Taniguchi won the 1958 San Felipe Stakes on Carrier X.
Taniguchi retired in 1968 and began working in racing offices at California tracks the same year. He retired from that position in 1990 and spent his retirement volunteering at a horseriding facility for handicapped children in the desert and at a local hospital, Johnson said. Taniguchi continued to follow racing and was an avid painter.