Horse racing at Santa Anita Park got out of the gate extremely fast this season.

The biggest opening day crowd since 1994 (44,579 on Dec. 26) proved to be no one-trick pony, with on-track attendance through the first six days of racing up 21% and on-track handle up 11%.
Out-of-state handle also surged 18% from a year ago while Southern California Off Track Wagering Inc. (SCOTWinc) handle showed a 10% increase and all sources Santa Anita handle was up 14% through week-one.

“We’re obviously very pleased to be off to such a strong start and we want to sincerely thank our fans and horsemen for making this possible,” said Santa Anita President George Haines. “We’ve been lucky with the weather and our field size has been good. We’ve been able to average nine horses per race and there’s no question that has provided better gambling opportunities for our players.”

The weather forecast for the coming days and the line-up of special events scheduled for January portends continued success for Santa Anita.

– By Scott Hettrick

With Santa Anita Park‘s traditional day-after-Christmas opening day falling on a Monday that was a holiday for most people and picture-perfect weather, the race track enjoyed its biggest season opener in nearly 17 years.

The 44,579 in attendance was the first opening day crowd over 40,000 since 2002, and the biggest since the 46,904 crowd of 1994, according to track officials. Monday’s attendance was up 30% over the previous year’s on-track attendance of 34,268. The on-track handle of $4,246,751 was an increase of 10% over 2010. The overall handle, $12,866,300, was up 9%.

Also likely contributing to the bigger crowds was a beefed up marketing push throughout the Los Angeles region aimed at attracting younger fans and Latinos.

Santa Anita will be dark on Tuesday and Wednesday before commencing five successive days of racing on Thursday.

– By Scott Hettrick

More than three weeks after closing due to tremendous wind storm damage to 700 trees on Dec. 1, including a loss of 235 trees, the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanical Garden re-opened a week ahead of schedule on Monday, Dec. 26.

More than 150 workers from multiple public agencies worked with the entire Arboretum staff on the massive cleanup, as well as numerous volunteers.

The Arboretum has received tremendous community support and donations to the Arboretum Tree Fund, the single largest tree planting campaign in the garden’s history. If you would like to contribute to a new generation of trees to ensure the Arboretum is a magnificent public resource for years to come. please help with a gift online or by mail. Please make the check payable to the Los Angeles Arboretum Foundation, 301 North Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA. 91007. To make a donation by phone, please call Brittany Fabeck in the Development Office at 626.821-3237. Please include “Tree Fund” on your donation.

– By Scott Hettrick

Perhaps the area most devastated by the Dec. 1 wind storm and certainly the one that will take the longest to recover was the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanical Garden.

Arboretum CEO Richard Schulhof and Superintendent Timothy Phillips said the Arboretum is closed indefinitely, probably at least three weeks. About half the trees and plants in the 127-acre garden were impacted, many permanently lost. Roads and walking trails must be cleared. Power lines were uprooted and remain exposed.

Amazingly, there was almost no damage to any of the historic buildings at the Arboretum.

The day after the storm, the two executives took ArcadiasBest.com on a tour of the facility. A four-minute video of that tour and their comments along the way is below:

The City of Arcadia’s annual free Holiday Snow festival, featuring sledding and playing on real snow, and breakfast with Santa for $8 per ticket, will be Saturday, Dec. 3 at the Arcadia Community Center, 365 Campus Drive.

The Holiday Snow Festival, which runs free to the public from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., features holiday entertainment, crafts, trolley train rides, dual sled runs and two snow play areas (see highlight videos from previous years below). Carl’s Jr. food and drinks will be available for purchase from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (More information about Santa breakfast and parking below videos…)

Santa will only be present at the Breakfast with Santa event, which is $8 per person and includes breakfast, photos with Santa and holiday entertainment. There are two options for breakfast: 8:30-9:30 a.m. (#6096) or 10:30-11:30 a.m. (#6097). Space is limited. Registrations are now being accepted at the City of Arcadia’s website (download the registration form) or stop by the office, 375 Campus Drive.
Free parking is available at the Centennial Way Entrance to Santa Anita Race Track. There will be shuttle service to transport participants to and from the Community Center from 8 a.m. – 2:15 p.m. In the event of rain, the Snow Festival will be held Saturday, December 10th. For more information please call 626.574.5113.
– By Scott Hettrick