ARCADIA — Santa Anita is bringing a multi-race place bet back to its wagering menu for the fall meet that opens Friday, with a 15% takeout rate that’s lower than it was for the similar place bet at Del Mar this summer and the last time Santa Anita offered one more than a decade go.
Read more Ducks 2026-27 season preview: 8 games to watch
The “place pick-eight” wager, costing $1 per combination, challenges players to pick first- or second-place finishers in the last eight races each day. It’s easier to hit but predictably has lower payoffs than the pick-six, which has a $2 minimum and requires connecting the winners of the day’s last six races.
The place pick-eight becomes the fifth wager confined to Santa Anita races that has a 14% or 15% takeout rate. Santa Anita and Del Mar both have been offering so-called “player friendly” takeout on the early pick-five, late double, late pick-three and all-turf pick-three. By comparison, straight win, place and show bets have a 15.43% takeout, and the corresponding number for other multi-horse and multi-race bets is 20% or higher, including 23.68% for the pick-six.
Takeouts remain higher at racetracks than in many other forms of sports gambling. One guess which forms are more popular.
One more change in the Santa Anita wagering menu sees pick-four minimums rise from 50 cents to $1.
• FanDuel TV still will show Santa Anita races during the fall meet, but now the network will be using the track’s in-house video and analysts instead of its own. This is the biggest effect yet on California racing fans from FanDuel’s decision, announced in March, to phase out racing coverage and eliminate it by the end of 2027. Santa Anita race video can also be watched on santaanita.com and wagering platforms.
• Forever Young rose from No. 2 to No. 1 in the official ranking of contenders for the Breeders’ Cup Classic after he won last Friday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, while Sovereignty slipped to No. 2 after missing the race because of a foot abscess. The Puma jumped into the rankings at No. 7 after holding off Further Ado last Saturday’s Pennsylvania Derby. The rest of the top 10: Knightsbridge, Magnitude, Golden Tempo, Nitrogen, Napoleon Solo, Renegade and Baeza.
• The Classic is returning to its proper place as the last of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 30-31 at Keeneland, in Lexington, Ky., after being run earlier in the Saturday card the past three years at California tracks. The schedule announced this week has the five Breeders’ Cup races on the Friday beginning at 11:55 a.m. PT and featuring the Juvenile at 1:55 p.m., and the nine Breeders’ Cup races on the Saturday starting at 10:10 a.m. PT with the Classic at 3:16 p.m.
Read more Trinity League Football Podcast: Race widens as the losses mount
• Antonio Fresu’s move from California to New York paid a quick dividend when he rode Lisa Joy to victory in a $150,000 maiden race Sept. 18, the very first race held at the “new” Belmont Park. Fresu faces tough competition back east after leading the Santa Anita Hollywood Meet in wins and finishing third to Joel Rosario and Juan Hernandez at Del Mar.
• Stewart Elliott recorded his 6,000th victory on Sept. 17 in an allowance-level sprint at Remington Park in Oklahoma City. Best known for riding 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones, the Toronto-born Elliott, 61, became the 23rd North American jockey to reach 6,000. For perspective, 23rd on baseball’s all-time hits list is Alex Rodriguez (3,115).
• Florent Geroux went home from the hospital in Louisville last Saturday after nine days of treatment for broken ribs and monitoring for internal injuries following a Sept. 10 fall at Churchill Downs. “Recovery starts now,” Geroux said on X. The horse, the maiden 2-year-old colt Flip Flop Freak, was euthanized.
• The sport is mourning the death of breeder and owner Arthur Hancock III Sept. 18 in Paris, Ky. Hancock became the first in his illustrious racing family to win the Kentucky Derby with Gato del Sol in 1982, and did it again with another California-based horse, Sunday Silence, in 1989.
• Safety watch: A fatal injury to Scam Alert, a maiden 2-year-old California-bred gelding, in training last Saturday at Santa Anita marked the 12th death in racing and training at Santa Anita and 23rd at the three active California tracks in 2026. The Santa Anita number is above the average of 9.6 deaths from Jan. 1 to Sept. 19 for the years 2021 to 2025, and the total is slightly above the average of 22.4 for those five years, according to an unofficial count based on California Horse Racing Board data.
LOS ALAMITOS LEADERS
Thoroughbred meet, final
Jockeys / Wins
Kazushi Kimura / 7
Armando Aguilar / 5
Edgar Payeras / 5
Kyle Frey / 4
Tiago Pereira / 4
(Four tied) / 3
Trainers / Wins
Peter Miller / 4
Bob Hess Jr. / 3
Ryan Hanson / 3
Genaro Vallejo / 3
Jesus Uranga / 3
(Five tied) / 2
UPCOMING STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $300,00, Grade I Goodwood Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 1⅛ miles
• $200,000, Grade II John Henry Turf Championship, 3 and up, 1¼ miles on turf
• $200,000, Grade II City of Hope Mile, 3 and up, 1 mile on turf
• $200,000, Grade II Eddie D Stakes, 3 and up, about 6½ furlongs on turf
• $100,000, Grade III John C. Harris Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, about 6½ furlongs on turf
Read more Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to allow quick third-country deportations to continue
Sunday
• $200,000, Grade II Santa Anita Sprint Championship, 3 and up, 6 furlongs
• $200,000, Grade II Zenyatta Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1-1/16 miles