Total handle up at Santa Anita

Santa Anita Park, which will again host the two-day Breeders' Cup World

Championships on November 1-2, concluded its 76th winter/spring meeting on

Sunday with overall handle up 4 percent. The increase was fueled, in part, by

strong gains in Account Deposit Wagering (ADW) handle through its 71-day meet

which began on December 26.

Santa Anita Derby Day, April 6, proved to be the high-point of the meet, as

an on-track crowd of 33,005 wagered $4,047,710, which contributed to a total

pari-mutuel handle of $19,897,306 -- a $2 million increase over last year.

Trainer Doug O'Neill won his second consecutive Santa Anita Derby, as

Goldencents, who also was named Santa Anita's Horse of the Meeting, scored by 1

1/4 lengths. Owned by NCAA Champion basketball coach Rick Pitino, Glenn

Sorgenstein, Josh Kaplan and Dave Kenney, and ridden by Kevin Krigger,

Goldencents will attempt to follow in the steps of the O'Neill-trained I'll Have

Another and become the 10th horse to win both the Santa Anita Derby and the

Kentucky Derby.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert finished the meet with 38 wins to take his

third consecutive Santa Anita training title and record 11th overall. Baffert

began the meet with two wins on opening day and continued to build on the

momentum as he prevailed in a close contest over fellow Hall of Famer Jerry

Hollendorfer, who finished second with 35 wins and O'Neill, who ended up third

with 34.

Baffert's biggest win came in the 76th running of the Santa Anita Handicap

when favored Game On Dude romped by a record 7 3/4 lengths to become just the

fourth horse to ever win the Big 'Cap twice -- this time under jockey Mike Smith

for Joe Torre's Diamond Pride LLC, the Lanni Family Trust, Mercedes Stable LLC

and Bernard Schiappa.

Jockey Rafael Bejarano returned to the top of the riding standings to win his

fourth title as Santa Anita's leading rider with 93 wins, 31 more than

second-place finisher Edwin Maldonado. Bejarano had finished second in the

riding standings the previous two seasons.

For the second consecutive year, Kosta Hronis' Hronis Racing led all owners

by races won, with 11 victories.

Frank Garcia, Santa Anita's head stable gateman, who greets fans, horsemen

and employees with an acknowledging smile at the track's Association Gate from 5

a.m. to 1 p.m. (PDT) five days a week, has been unanimously chosen as Santa

Anita's employee of the meet for the 2012-13 stand.

An Air Force veteran who graduated from Arcadia High School in 1984, Garcia

came to work at The Great Race Place in 1994 and is known and respected as a man

who is always positive and helpful -- beyond the call of duty.

"I think it's the people around me that keep me upbeat," Garcia said. "I

think the people coming in make it easy for me to be that way. I don't think it

has anything to do with me; it has everything to do with them. Sometimes the

people that haven't been here before, and are excited to be here. I think that's

what keeps you going."

Garcia and his wife, Lana, reside in Rancho Cucamonga with their six

children, who range in ages from six to 13.

"For many people coming to Santa Anita, Frank is the first person they

encounter," Santa Anita President George Haines said. "He is an invaluable

employee. Many of the people he greets are coming here for the first time, and

Frank is a ray of sunshine to them all. Frank's just a great ambassador for us

and we are so fortunate to have had him here all these years."

Garcia, 46, first came to Santa Anita as a small boy, with his father.

"My dad would bring me out every now again after the 8TH race, 'cause we

could get in free," Garcia said. "I remember one weekend when I was about six

years old, we got to see Roy Rogers and I got to meet him in the walking ring.

"I'm optimistic about Santa Anita's future. Once everything with Hollywood

(Park) is settled, I think Santa Anita will be in a better position. I think

Santa Anita is the best place to be, and not just because I work here.

"Even if they don't gamble, if you can get someone out here, to watch a

Thoroughbred, to look at a Thoroughbred in the paddock gardens, I think you will

have a fan. I think getting people out here, and treating them right when they

are here, that's the key."

And, if great employees are "the key," Santa Anita's future is more than

secure with its 2012-13 employee of the meet, Garcia.

This Santa Anita season was also marked by several very successful on-track

activities designed to broaden the track's reputation and brand as not only the

crown jewel of Thoroughbred racing, but as an important member of the Southern

California entertainment community.

More than 50 young women competed to be among the finalists to represent

California in the first-ever Ms. Racing Queen pageant held at Gulfstream Park in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Tatiana Schoeppler, who resides in Los Angeles, was

named Ms. Racing Queen and she won the top prize of $100,000. She will spend the

next 12 months as an ambassador for Thoroughbred racing around the country.

The second annual HRTV Film Festival at Santa Anita brought together nearly

three dozen veteran and aspiring filmmakers to create five-minute documentaries

themed "A Day at the Races." Kramer Productions' film "One," which chronicled

sports anchor Jim Rome's star filly Mizdirection, won the $10,000 first prize.

Miguel Mochess and Cuatro Mascaras Productions' film "And Away They Go" won the

$10,000 Fan Favorite award.

Santa Anita will be open for simulcast wagering during the upcoming Hollywood

Park Meeting, which gets underway on Thursday, with first post time at 1 p.m.

Opening day for Santa Anita's 2013 Autumn Meet is September 27. For more

information on the autumn meet and the Breeders' Cup World Championships, visit

www.santaanita.com, or

call (626) 574-RACE.

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