Santa Anita Track to Undergo Safety Inspection

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*smiles* What? I'm not saying anything...

The California Horse Racing Board arranged for an expert to inspect the main track at Santa Anita Park this week to evaluate its safety before Oak Tree Racing Association's upcoming fall meet.

Horse owners and trainers expressed concerns last week that Santa Anita's track might be unsafe due, in part, to the number of rocks embedded in the racetrack's surface, said Sherwood Chillingworth, executive vice president of Oak Tree.

"The board has a responsibility to make sure the racetracks are safe," said CHRB spokesman Mike Marten. "The racetrack has had problems for a couple of years, and it's going through major renovations. The board is just meeting its responsibility."

Safety inspections are required before any meet at a racetrack, Marten said.

"This is the same track everyone ran on in January, February, March and half of April and ... they didn't express any concerns then," Chillingworth said.

Alan Balch, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT), declined to comment on the trainers' specific concerns about the track.

The board, along with representatives of CTT and the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), has monitored developments at Santa Anita Park as officials there attempt to repair drainage problems at the track.

The CHRB plans to invite owners, trainers and Santa Anita officials to review the report, which will also be made public, a CHRB statement said.

The horse racing board will meet Aug. 19 to consider granting Oak Tree a license to run the meet at Santa Anita, Marten said.

"The inspection would have to be done now for us to have all the information we need," he said.

Chillingworth said he thought it was a good idea to bring in Dr. Michael Peterson, a renowned professor of engineering at the University of Maine, to inspect the track.

"Let's get somebody who is knowledgeable and can render a dispassionate third-party opinion," he said. "I'm perfectly willing to rely on his judgement. If he has some remedial request, we'll look at those too."

Dr. Rick Arthur, equine medical director of the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, who is assigned full time to the CHRB and is vice president and director of Oak Tree, said "in my mind, there is absolutely no concern that the track will be ready" in time for the Oak Tree meet.