The Classic Meet at “The Great Race Place” will run largely three days a week – Friday through Sunday plus public holidays – until April 5. Racing at Santa Anita will then take a short break and continue with the spring “Hollywood” season from April 17 to June 14.
Santa Anita plans to host 78 race dates, including the April to June portion of the schedule. Some of the competition highlights include the edition of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap presented by Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in San Manuel on March 7 and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4. In total, the track will play host to a total of 81 stakes races worth $11.75 million in purse money.
Leading Santa Anita Jockeys
The favorite to win the Santa Anita Classic Meet jockey title (December 28, 2025 to April 5, 2026) is Juan Hernándezwho has won the last four winter titles, including 53 wins (23%) last year. Those stats were nearly identical to his Santa Anita jockey title two years ago, when he also won 53 races (22%). He was the runaway leading jockey at the 2022-’23 and 2021-’22 Santa Anita winter meetings, including a 63-win (25%) season three years ago.
The Hollywood Meet in the spring (April 17 to June 14, 2026) is a different story than the Classic Meet. After falling just one win short of dethroning Hernandez as leading rider in 2024, Antonio Fresu stripped Hernandez of the jockey title in 2025 with 35 wins from 152 mounts (23%). Fresu was the fifth leader at last year’s Classic Meet with 29 wins (14%), and he looks set for a big season after a stint in the Middle East in late 2025.
Several changes are expected in the SoCal jockey colony this season as some of the top riders of recent years opt to ride elsewhere this season. Last year’s second leading rider, Flavien Prat, will instead stay in New York this winter, and last winter’s tenth leading rider, Assael Espinoza, shifts course to Oaklawn Park. Veteran Frankie Dettori is retiring.
One jockey heading in the opposite direction and filling some of the void this season at Santa Anita will be Emisael Jaramillowhich was based at Gulfstream Park, where he was the second leading rider at the spring-summer meet and the third leading rider at the fall meet through Nov. 23.
The other big rider you’ll see a lot in the Santa Anita entries is Umberto Rispoliwho finished third at last year’s winter meet with 37 wins (20%) and earned a jockey title at the Del Mar fall meet, where he led all riders with 17 wins (22%).
You will regularly encounter more prominent jockeys at Santa Anita Hectos Berrioswhich Rispoli equaled last year with 37 wins (23%). There will also be a fight for a place in the top 10 of the rankings Kyle Frey (28 wins, 13% at last year’s Classic Meet), Kazushi Kimura (10 wins, 11%), Tiago Pereira (28 wins, 15%), Armando Ayuso (26 wins, 14%), and Edwin Maldonado (19 wins, 17%). Mike Smith only rode 54 mountains, including many of the stakes, and won seven times for 13%. Also Italian jockey Mirco Demuro came to SoCal and made quite an impression in the second half of 2025, especially at the fall meet in Del Mar, where he finished with 12 wins out of 49 starters for 24%.
Santa Anita top sneakers
In the trainer rankings Mark Glatt climbed to first place and won the training title at last year’s competition with 31 wins from 122 starters for 25%. Glatt had finished second in the standings two years ago when he won 29 races and posted a big winning percentage of 28% after winning 23 races (21%) the year before.
Two years ago, during the Classic Meet, the title of the training went to Doug O’Neill with 31 wins from 163 starters for 19%. O’Neill dropped to fifth in the rankings last year with 20 wins (12%). Phil D’Amato was the previous leading trainer with three consecutive titles at the Classic Meet from 2020-’21 through 2022-’23. D’Amato was all the way back to eighth in the standings last year with 13 wins (10%).
Bob Baffert has been about as consistent as you can be the last three years at this winter Santa Anita meet and will certainly challenge for the training title as he always does despite having fewer starters than many of the other top trainers. Baffert posted a big win percentage of 30% last year as he finished second in the standings with 26 wins out of 87 starters. Two years ago he won 24 races from 89 starters (27%), and three years ago at the Classic Meet he won 27 races from 99 starters, also for 27%.
Other top winter sneakers from Santa Anita should be this Michael McCarthy (24 wins, 22% at last year’s Classic Meet), Jeff Mullins (23 wins, 32%), Richard White (16 wins, 18%), Robert Hess Jr. (15 wins, 18%), John Saddle (13 wins, 13%), and Mike Puype (13 wins, 20%), all of which finished in the top 10 last year. More trainers with a high percentage for bettors to focus on include Richard Mandella (9 wins, 18%), Jonathan Thomas (9 wins, 23%), Dean Pederson (10 wins, 34%), and Then Blackerwho managed to win 54% last year with 7 of his 13 starters at the meet.
Santa Anita Main Rail Trends
Let’s get to know “The Great Race Place” by taking a quick look at some of the prevailing biases at Santa Anita in different types of races, based on statistics from the same Santa Anita Classic and Hollywood Meets last year, from December 26, 2024 to June 15, 2025.
In terms of running style preferences and the winning track profile on the main circuit, it is extremely difficult for closers to win sprint races. Closers who finished four or more lengths off the pace won just 23 of the 268 sprints run last year, accounting for just 9% of the wins. By far the best running style for success in Santa Anita sprints is early speed. Front runners at or close to the pace (within a length of the lead) won 151 of the 268 sprints, accounting for wins in more than half of the races (56%). Post positions were played fair.
The statistics at the most common dirt sprint distances of 5 ½ furlongs, 6 furlongs and 6 ½ furlongs were similar. There were only 11 races held at 7 furlongs at last year’s meetings and these were even more in favor of speed, with seven of the winners racing at or close to the lead. None of the seven-furlong races were won by closers.
Santa Anita dirt route trends
Most of Santa Anita’s dirt races are held at a mile. There were 132 routes run at last year’s Classic and Hollywood Meets and 112 of them were at a mile, while only 15 races were run at the next most common distance of 1 1/16 miles. With an average field size of 6.89 horses per race, the post positions played fair against the inner, middle and outer posts.
The running style advantage on Santa Anita’s dirt trails last season also went to the speedsters, who won 67 of 132 races for 51%. Stalkers racing between 1 and 4 lengths off the pace won 48 of the 132 races, good for 36%. Similar to sprint racing trends, closers had a hard time winning routes with only 17 wins out of 132 routes, accounting for just 13% of the races.
Tips for the Santa Anita Turf Route
When it comes to grass racing, Santa Anita’s turf track is home to some of the best grass racing in the country in the winter. Last year, 181 races were held on flat artificial turf routes, including 146 races on one mile and 35 races on 1 1/8 miles. Occasionally longer grass routes are run, starting at various points in the downhill portion of the course. Santa Anita’s flat grass course generally tends to play fairly well in terms of running styles and post positions, but there are differences between one mile and 1 1/8 miles that are worth noting.
On the Santa Anita turf tracks at the most common distance of a mile, the average field size was almost eight horses (7.94 horses per race), and the post positions were fair. The biggest bias in these races last year was a disadvantage for closers, who won 28 of 146 turf miles for just 19%. Early speed horses as a group and stalkers as a group did much better.
On turf routes at 1 1/8 miles, the preferred running styles played completely differently and outpost positions were much more of a disadvantage. Closers did well at 1 1/8 miles with 12 wins in the 35 races, accounting for 34% of the wins. If there was a running style disadvantage in these races, it was against speed horses at or near the pace, who had the worst winning percentage of the various running styles with wins in only 23% of races (8-of-35). When it comes to postal positions, horses drawn anywhere outside postal position No. 6 won only five of the 35 races, representing just 14% of wins.
Santa Anita Turf Sprints
Santa Anita runs turf sprints at 6 ½ furlongs on its signature downhill course, as well as flat turf sprints from the newer backstretch turf sprint chute, mostly at 6 furlongs plus a few races at 6 ½ furlongs and some rare five-furlong dashes. The sprints on flat grass, starting on the backstretch, played fair to all in terms of post positions and running styles last season, with the exception of a disadvantage for closers who came more than four lengths off the pace, who won just 31 of last season’s 140 races, making up just 22% of the winners.
In the downhill grass sprints, the course is used much less often than it used to be and only 30 downhill turf sprints were held at the corresponding Santa Anita meetings last year. These downhill sprints are usually fair to all running styles, but played more favorably to speedsters and stalkers last year, when speedsters won 12 times and stalkers won 12 times. Closers have won just six times. Data collected over many years and decades shows that Santa Anita downhill grass sprints with large fields favor horses with center and outside poles. It can be difficult to win those races from post positions 1-2-3 in large fields.
Have a great season at “The Great Race Place.” Good luck and enjoy Santa Anita!
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