Arcadia, Calif.
Santa Anita opens a five-week autumn meeting starting Friday that will point to the Breeders' Cup in November.
The legendary track will conclude the meet on Oct. 29, with Breeders' Cup weekend starting Nov. 3 at Del Mar.
Saturday is expected to be one of the major highlights of the meet, featuring five Grade I races that will provide automatic berths to the Breeders' Cup races.
The Awesome Again Stakes, prep for the BC Classic, has a field of 8 runners on the schedule that include stars like Midnight Storm, Dortmund, Cupid and Mubtaahij. Cupid has been installed as the 2-1 favorite.
The FrontRunner Stakes also features a competitive field on Saturday's card with the likes of Bolt d'Oro, Zatter and Solomini. This race points toward the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Bolt d'Oro, fresh off a dominating victory in the Del Mar Futurity, is the morning-line 2-1 favorite.
After Saturday, the autumn meet will feature one more Grade I event - The Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 7
Racing will mainly be conducted on a Thursday through Sunday schedule with post times starting at 1 p.m. during the week and 12:30 p.m. on the weekend.
Track representatives said they expect to have sufficient entries throughout the meet after four Thursday cards were canceled due to insufficient entries during the spring-summer meet.