Oak Tree at Santa Anita

Oak Tree at Santa Anita

In 1968, three distinguished figures of California horse racing, Clement L. Hirsch, Louis R. Rowan, and Dr. Jack Robbins, met with the then-president of Santa Anita Park, Robert P. Strub with a proposal to offer horsemen an opportunity for first-class racing between the end of the Del Mar season and the opening of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting. The southern California racing calendar was empty then, except for the brief Pomona fair circuit meeting.

The Oak Tree meeting was to be run by horsemen, for horsemen. In autumn 1969, the Oak Tree Racing Association held its first races at Santa Anita. The first 20 day meeting did well, and has been doing well ever since.
Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred horse racetrack located in Arcadia, California, USA. It is famed for offering some of the most famous racing events in the USA during the fall and winter. Horse racing at Santa Anita racetrack began in 1934. Since then, the track has grown to become one of the best winter horse racing venues in the world, and is home to many famed races, including the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap.

Santa Anita racetrack first opened on Christmas day 1934, making it the oldest racetrack in southern California. The architect Gordon B. Kaufman designed it in the art deco style. It was originally part of "Rancho Santa Anita", and was originally owned by former San Gabriel Mission Mayor-Domo, Claudio Lopez. Lopez named it after a family member, Anita Cota. The property was later acquired by rancher named Hugo Reid, and gold prospector Lucky Baldwin after that. Baldwin founded a racetrack on the present site in the 1800s, but it later closed.

The 1960s saw major renovations at Santa Anita Park, including a much-expanded grandstand. In 1968 a group of horsemen including Clement Hirsch established the not-for-profit Oak Tree Racing Association. Oak Tree had no facilities of its own and rented Santa Anita Park for its first autumn meeting in 1969.

Oak Tree has held an annual meet at Santa Anita Park ever since. This meet normally runs from the end of September until early November. Many key stakes races are held during the Oak Tree Meeting, including many warm-ups to the Breeders' Cup races. Oak Tree has been given the honor of holding the Breeders' Cup itself on three occasions, in 1986, 1993, and 2003, and is scheduled to host it again in 2008.

Oak Tree presents its fortieth racing season in 2008. Through the years it has remained dedicated to channeling its profits into research and development, breeding and other worthy causes in the San Gabriel Valley.

The Oak Tree Racing Association is a not for profit, non dividend paying group of active California horse breeders and owners whose directors serve without compensation. Its lease agreement with the Los Angeles Turf Club, the operator of Santa Anita Park, was extended in 2008 to continue through 2016. During its 39 years of dedication to the cause of “Horsemen Helping Horsemen," Oak Tree has contributed more than $20 million to projects benefiting horse racing.

At Santa Anita, horsemen continue to benefit from Oak Tree projects remodeling the stable cafeteria, building and renovating a backstretch recreation facility, and funding English classes for backstretch workers.

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