Santa Anita's California Crown event looks to make an impact

A starting gate stands outside the track at Santa Anita Park.

By John CherwaSpecial Contributor

Sept. 28, 2024 4:57 PM PT

You need look no further than the temporary lighting and speakers hanging from the roof near the stage where musical acts performed between races at Santa Anita on Saturday to figure out the track’s mission on California Crown day.

A relic of the past, a giant disco ball, was suspended over the stage near the $1,400 seats, which weren’t seats at all but lavender couches.

If it were only the 1960s, ’70s or even the ’80s when horse racing — and disco — had a significant place in the Southern California entertainment landscape. The mission was clear Saturday, to recapture even a fraction of the past excitement and, hopefully, along the way pick up some new customers.

Here in the 2020s, horse racing in California is struggling. The days where crowds were in excess of 40,000 are long gone, in part replaced by the ease of betting from home. Racing has contracted from five days a week to three at Santa Anita. Field sizes are smaller as foal crops continue to decline. Betting is down, creating a $5-million purse deficit, which was covered by the track, during the track’s signature six-month winter and spring meeting.

So, at least for one day, Santa Anita tried to put on an entertainment and dining experience that would revitalize the sport. There is little doubt that The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita Park, lost money on the day clearly signifying that it takes money to build for the future.

“The fact is that they are investing,” said Robert Hartman, who worked in marketing at Santa Anita before becoming general manager at Golden Gate Fields. He is the director of the Race Track Industry Program at the University of Arizona.

“It may not be the perfect investment or the investment you think they should be making, but they are trying. The thing that gets to me are the race tracks that just pack it in. They open the doors, and there are 300 or 400 people, they simulcast their signals, they don’t even try and get people to the race track. That’s the real travesty. [TSG is] investing. Give them some credit. They are trying to make it something. They are spending money to get people there and that seems like a real positive to me.”

TSG, a private company, declined to say how much the day cost.

“Are we expecting to make a lot of money in year one? No,” said Aidan Butler, chief executive of the racing arm of TSG. “It’s really about if we can start to grow the handle. I don’t expect it to be a massive success but should be a great way to build for the future.”

The racing highlight of the day was $1-million California Crown, which was won by Subsanador who is trained by Richard Mandella. There were also two turf races with purses of $750,000.

TSG even put together a $5-million bonus to any horse that won the Preakness Stakes, California Crown and Pegasus Stakes. However, Preakness winner Seize the Grey did not come to Santa Anita, instead running in the $1-million Pennsylvania Derby last week, which he won.

Generally, an insurance policy on such promotions runs about 20%, which would be about $1 million. Butler would not comment if the track paid the premium or decided to roll the dice that no horse would win all three races.

TSG has often mixed racing with music. The Pegasus, at Gulfstream Park, has sold the experience to south Florida with good success. The 10,000-seat venue has an intimate feel because of its size. TSG also puts on a show at the Preakness in Baltimore. Some of their musical guests have included Post Malone, the Chainsmokers and Bruno Mars.

“The idea was that if the total concert expense, including advertising, talent, labor, etc., could result in break-even or better, that was how success was defined,” said Alan Balch, a longtime Santa Anita marketing and public relations executive who is the executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers.

“If even 5% or even fewer concert attendees returned for an incremental visit, that market development was being achieved. As to the Hispanic-Latino markets, research indicated the concerts were a major success in developing new, regular fans. Ditto the efforts aimed at ‘youth,’ defined as attendees under 30.”

Concerts at Santa Anita is not a new concept.

“As far as I know, concert promotions at race tracks began at Santa Anita over 50 years ago for targeted market segments, to which intensive advertising of the promotions could be funded efficiently, meaning, to make the concert advertising affordable,” Balch said.

“These efforts were based on research that indicated the addition of concert-big name entertainment in Las Vegas, decades earlier, had revolutionized marketing of gaming there.”

The star performer on Saturday was Shaboozey, a country singer whose profile has grown nationally with a series of hits. Two weeks ago he appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” He’s also been on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”

It’s certainly not a full concert in that he was allocated only 20 minutes before the California Crown race.

The music, with DJs, continued for about 90 minutes after the end of racing.

The crowd on Saturday was clearly bigger than your average Saturday, despite a general admission of $27.30. The more expensive seats came with food and drink.

No attendance figure was immediately available, although Santa Anita’s announced crowd numbers are often in conflict with visual evidence.

The timing of the event was dictated by the Breeders’ Cup, which will be held Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar. Horses generally run about once a month so this allowed for traditional spacing between races.

“Everything about this has been programmed to make this as big a day as possible,” Butler said late last week. “It’s the first year and a lot of people will be watching to see, but I just hope it’s a great day. Field sizes is a key. Handle is also really key. I’m really feeling quite positive about it.”

The question now is how many people agree with Butler and will make a return visit to the track.