Arguably no region across the U.S. has been more intertwined with the Breeders’ Cup World Championships than Southern California. The first Breeders’ Cup in 1984 took place at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif., and since then racetracks in SoCal have hosted the World Championships 16 more times, with another on the horizon this Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

Santa Anita Park holds the record of hosting 11 Breeders’ Cups, and the picturesque Arcadia track nestled at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains has also been the host for a group of Breeders’ Cup prep races during early fall that continue to be crucial steppingstones for aspiring champion racehorses and their connections.

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella. (Eclipse Sportswire)

The reasons for Santa Anita’s appeal as a Breeders’ Cup launchpad include generally good weather year-round, a busy training facility, and a history of top-class competition that for nearly 90 years has been deeply connected to the lifeline of Thoroughbred racing in North America. In times past, names like Charlie Whittingham, Seabiscuit, Mesh Tenney, Bill Shoemaker, Native Diver, and Gamely dominated national horse racing headlines. During the Breeders’ Cup era, the success of trainers such as Bob Baffert, Richard Mandella, Bobby Frankel, and John Sadler plus a stellar roster of jockeys and racehorses have made Southern California the fall place to be when it comes time to distribute championship trophies. The Breeders’ Cup has been held in the region eight times in the 13 years since 2012, six at Santa Anita and three (soon to be four) at Del Mar.

“In the last few years it’s become [more routine] that a lot of horses prep for the Breeders’ Cup at the end of August, but I still think that our fall Breeders’ Cup dirt preps get strong fields despite that,” said Steve Martinelli, director of racing at Santa Anita. “We’re able to sometimes get horses from back east, we’re able to get horses from around here to do well [in the event]. So, the combination of the good weather and the Breeders’ Cup being in California, plus a lot of trainers that have top dirt horses here, I think they’ve been factors.”

Santa Anita’s position of influence dates back to the early years of the World Championships, when the Oak Tree Racing Association meet was at its height. The Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita began in 1969 after prominent California horsemen led by Clement Hirsch proposed to conduct 20 days of racing to Santa Anita President Robert Strub to fill in a gap in the California racing calendar. Oak Tree, formed as a charitable organization dedicated to supporting California’s Thoroughbred industry, leased Santa Anita for racing dates, and the boutique meet was an immediate success.

Oak Tree was the official host of the first five Breeders’ Cups held at Santa Anita – 1986, 1993, 2003, 2008, and 2009 – but its impact started in the inaugural year of 1984 when Star Crown Stable’s 2-year-old colt Chief’s Crown won the Norfolk Stakes during the Oak Tree meet and then won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Hollywood Park.

The Oak Tree Racing Association’s autumn lease with Santa Anita Park ended in 2010, but the nonprofit continues to support California racing to this day, sponsoring the Oak Leaf Stakes Presented by Oak Tree during Santa Anita’s fall meet. That 1 1/16-mile dirt race is a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” prep for the Juvenile Fillies. It’s companion during the fall is the American Pharoah Stakes – formerly the Norfolk Stakes and FrontRunner Stakes – held at the same distance for males.

Both of these Santa Anita preps have tipped the Breeders’ Cup scales through the years and helped create champions in the 2-year-old male and female divisions. In part, that’s due to the impact D. Wayne Lukas had on the sport during the 1980s and 1990s and Bob Baffert has had starting in the 1990s to the present. Lukas was based in Southern California when he transitioned from Quarter Horses became a leading Thoroughbred trainer, and Baffert, who made the same move, has remained there for his entire career. Both built their reputations on developing young horses into Kentucky Derby or Kentucky Oaks contenders, with Breeders’ Cup appearances during their first season of racing often part of the journey.

In the fall of 1986, Lukas-trained Capote won the then-named Norfolk Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile back-to-back at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree meet when it hosted the World Championships for the first time. More recently, Baffert has trained three 2-year-olds who swept the American Pharoah and Juvenile: Game Winner in 2018, Corniche in 2021, and Citizen Bull last year. Three of those four eventual champions (excepting Game Winner) possessed California dirt racing’s core attribute – speed – in ample quantities.

Overall, six colts that won the Norfolk/FrontRunner/American Pharoah Stakes have trained on to take the BC Juvenile, and a handful of notable others settled for second in the latter race, including Baffert-trained Cave Rock and Muth in 2022 and 2023, respectively. On the distaff side, six 2-year-old fillies have doubled up in the Oak Tree Stakes (held as the Chandelier Stakes from 2012-’23) and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, highlighted by Halfbridled in 2003 and Songbird in 2015, who both concluded their juvenile campaigns undefeated.

Santa Anita’s marquee Breeders’ Cup preps for older dirt males and females also have been very influential through the decades. The Goodwood Stakes held at 1 1/8 miles has sent five winners on to capture the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic: Ferdinand in 1987, Tiznow in 2000, Pleasantly Perfect in 2003, Mucho Macho Man in 2013, and Accelerate in 2018. This year, the Goodwood reverts to its original name after being called the Awesome Again Stakes for several years and the California Crown Stakes in 2024.

The great Beholder in 2015. (Eclipse Sportswire)

In 1993, Santa Anita unveiled the Lady’s Secret Stakes as its prep for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The race, held at 1 1/16 miles, was named in honor of the D. Wayne Lukas-trained 1986 Horse of the Year and Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner, but in 2012 it was renamed to honor a superstar of more recent vintage who had won the race three times in a row from 2008-’10. Zenyatta used the Lady’s Secret as a springboard to wins in the Distaff in 2008, the Classic in 2009, and then a heart-wrenching runner-up effort in the 2010 Classic. The living legend is one of four fillies or mares to win her namesake prep and the Distaff in the same year. Another Hall of Famer, Beholder, is the last to achieve the double; she won the Zenyatta Stakes three years in a row as well, from 2013-’15, and followed her 2013 win up with a Distaff score on the same Santa Anita track. (Beholder finished off her career with a thrilling Breeders’ Cup Distaff win at Santa Anita in 2016, one race after finishing second in the Zenyatta.)

Santa Anita also hosts two Breeders’ Cup preps for turf horses during its fall meet – the City of Hope Mile Stakes and the Rodeo Drive Stakes – and this year the track’s signature fall dirt sprint race, the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes, returns to the Challenge Series schedule after a three-year absence. Six different horses have won that six-furlong dash and then the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, including Roy H back-to-back in 2017 and 2018. The group includes MyRacehorse’s Straight No Chaser last year, who did not earn an automatic berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint by virtue of winning the Santa Anita Sprint Championship but went on to the Sprint at Del Mar and won impressively.

Santa Anita Park heads into its fall 2025 meet coming off of successful Classic (winter) and Hollywood (spring) meets that resulted in a rise in betting handle, purses, and field size after horses from Northern California were integrated into the racing population and simulcast revenue from the north was redirected south. Continuing that momentum will be the focus going forward, Martinelli said, with the track’s autumn Breeders’ Cup preps an integral part of bolstering a Southern California circuit that now serves the entire state’s Thoroughbred industry.

“I’m expecting that Del Mar is going to do very well,” Martinelli said. “I know [Del Mar racing secretary] David Jerkens just said he’s got about 300 new horses down there, and stall space is at a premium. We even ran into a stall crunch ourselves during the Classic meet here, what I’ve been told was unprecedented in the last few years, so we expect the same when we come back in the fall.”