Santa Anita Park – A Safer, Busier, And Olympic-Ready Venue

Christine Zito: 0:04

Hello and welcome back to Arcadia FYI. I’m Christine Zito. I am your host and I’m happy to be here. I’m happy you’re here. If you’re watching on YouTube, I’m so glad you’re watching. This show, of course, is focused on community here in the Arcadia, in the city of Arcadia, and even outside the city of Arcadia, because I always say we’re one big happy family here in the San Gabriel Valley. And the show’s about, well, it’s in the title, FYI. It’s about information, fun information, event information, city information. And yes, some of those controversial information we can bring on people to talk about that. But I just want to just give you information. And if you have any information, thank you for your email. Thank you. Thank you. I cannot thank you enough for your emails and your Facebook messages. And those of you that I had an opportunity to talk to, it’s great. I would like to thank our sponsors. Um, of course, Longo Toyota in El Monte. You know what I’m gonna say. I know. You gotta go visit, say hi to Mike, say hi to Brooke. They do more than just sell cars. They’re like on a, I don’t know, 100 acres, 50 acres or something like that. So they do more than just sell cars. Star 7 Financial with Francine Chiu, who I think is, well, I’m biased, the best financial advisor here uh in the city in San Gabriel Valley. The Santa Anita Park. Yeah, we’ll be talking about that in just a second, and the Le Méridien Hotel here in Arcadia and Pasadena. All right, I’m gonna give you a little guess of who you might think might be in studio. Did you get it? Okay, just in case you didn’t, how about this?

Promotional Video: 1:47

And they’re up, stellar cap quick out of the weight. On the inside, fondest dream is quicker, though.

Christine Zito: 1:54

I know. If you’re watching on YouTube, you can see, but if you’re listening um on the podcast, you probably have an idea. Yes, finally, I’ve been waiting for this day. In studio, I have Pete Siberell. He is the director of special projects at the San Anita Park. Welcome, Pete.

Pete Siberell: 2:14

Thank you, Christine.

Christine Zito: 2:15

All right, let me. And we’re off, I guess, right? We’re off. We’re off. That’s good. And let me did I say your last name right? Sibirel. Sibrell.

Pete Siberell: 2:23

Close enough.

Christine Zito: 2:24

Okay, so I have it here. Pete Siberell, and it’s all pronounced differently. All right. The San Anita Park. What an icon here in the city of I of Arcadia. There’s a lot of history there.

Pete Siberell: 2:36

Absolutely. It’s uh we’ve just finished our 90th year.

Christine Zito: 2:39

98th?

Pete Siberell: 2:40

90th. 90th year. Oh, 90th. Yeah, we started in Christmas Day of 1934.

Christine Zito: 2:45

Yeah, it’s a lot of history. And before we get into all of that, I want to I want people to know you like I know you. So I want to get to know Pete a little bit. Um were you born here in California, raised here?

Pete Siberell: 2:58

Uh I was actually born in LA, but at age two, I think we moved to uh the East Coast. My dad worked in New York City, so we lived in Connecticut for about 10 years. Then moved to San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area, where I was kind of raised as a um teenager and into college. Um so I and then I’ve been to Santa Anita for now 31 years, so I still consider myself a Bay Area person. I’m a Niners and Giants and Warriors kind of guy.

Christine Zito: 3:28

So Giants, well Yes, I know. Okay, I know I’m a Dodger fan. I have this this will be a great conversation. But wow, you lived in Connecticut. Okay, I gotta when when you said that, I’ve always wanted to visit that East Coast because of just the history. Did you live where it was like how I see it in the pictures, the beautiful trees, the ocean?

Pete Siberell: 3:49

No ocean, but um all of that in terms of the trees and uh upgrading was we lived in a um suburban area in Connecticut called New Canaan. We had as a kid it couldn’t have been a better area to to grow up. We had three and a half acres and a river and a swimming hole and all that. So um my dad, you know, when it snowed though, we had a very long driveway going up to the house, and so when it snowed, my dad would have to get a snowplow every time to get him out so he can go to the train station. So he got a finally got a job offer in San Francisco and said, you know, bye-bye.

Christine Zito: 4:24

Wow, what a what a neat history. Um Married, do you have kids, grandkids?

Pete Siberell: 4:30

Yeah, 31 years married, I think. Um my wife uh still uh she’s a flight attendant for United. Um actually’s in London right now doing a during a during a trip. Um two grown boys, one’s in Atlanta, one’s in Denver. Um and then uh two wonderful dogs at home to take care of.

Christine Zito: 4:50

Are you do you have any grandkids yet? No, no, no, no, no. Okay, so you’re an empty nester.

Pete Siberell: 4:55

Yes.

Christine Zito: 4:56

What’s what’s what’s that?

Pete Siberell: 4:57

It’s good, it’s fine. It’s it’s good. We have a chance to visit our boys in various cities and uh and do some more traveling, and um I’m good with it.

Christine Zito: 5:06

Oh, that’s good, yeah, because guy, Connecticut, the Bay, now Los Angeles, yeah. The San Anita Park. Okay, so let’s. I love that park, Pete. So tell me what is exactly because you’re your t did I give you did I say your title right?

Pete Siberell: 5:22

Yeah, there’s part of it is director of community community service and special projects.

Christine Zito: 5:27

And and what is that? What what is exactly?

Pete Siberell: 5:29

Well, uh the community service part is pretty easy to talk about. It’s it’s work with uh the city of Arcadia, work with various in the San Gabriel Valley with with various cities and and uh organizations for uh representing the racetrack. Um I’m on a whole bunch of boards that always come back to where we can help benefit those those organizations. Um and then loc I make a local donations, um uh so a lot of city lays on work and relationships. And then beyond that, um I’m in charge of uh booking a lot of big uh local events, whether it’s 626 Night Market or or filming or um events in the infield.

Christine Zito: 6:14

Um Well, we just had one in the paddock.

Pete Siberell: 6:16

We did, yes.

Christine Zito: 6:17

I wonder what that was.

Pete Siberell: 6:18

Yes.

Christine Zito: 6:18

Yeah, the taste of arcadia.

Pete Siberell: 6:20

Taste of Arcadia, yeah. So um and then I’m also working with on the backside uh where we have our um the people who work with the horses um involve various organizations to for their benefit, whether it’s a recreation center or sports leagues or that kind of thing. So I wear a whole bunch of different hats. Every day is so different.

Christine Zito: 6:40

I know. Okay. Sea Biscuit, the movie, wasn’t that film there?

Pete Siberell: 6:46

Yeah, we shot that going back to 19 or 2003. We we filmed at Santa Anita for about four straight months. Um I happen to be the coordinator of of that, um, of that film. Um so there was a lot of work, but it was totally worth it. Uh have you seen it?

Christine Zito: 7:02

I assume I love I have I bought the movie back when it was on Blu-ray, when Blu-ray was around before all the other stuff. And then I I mean I’m I I mean wait, I got a DVD, I got it, I got a Blu-ray, and now I even own it on digital because I I bought it on Amazon. I love that that movie, the whole story behind it.

Pete Siberell: 7:20

And it makes Santa Anita just look wonderful, and you know, not a lot has changed um since you know he ran in 1938 to 1940. Um if you wait long enough, uh, Christine, after the the you know the movie’s over and you look at the credits, if you wait another two and a half hours, my name comes up when the credits But you gotta stay there, you have to stay in your seat for a very long time.

Christine Zito: 7:42

No, that’s fine. I uh I will fast forward it to it. I’m gonna find it now. You know, I I just I really did there’s a few movies that I that I love and and you and you could share yours. Mine number one Matrix. I love the movie The Matrix.

Pete Siberell: 7:56

I couldn’t understand it, but yeah.

Christine Zito: 7:57

Oh, okay. So I loved it. Number two is Sea Biscuit. Nice. I loved the whole story behind it. Yeah, okay. So you have to tell me yours. Ugh. I know, right?

Pete Siberell: 8:07

Um Brownhog Day comes to mind right away.

Christine Zito: 8:10

Yeah, that’s coming up in February.

Pete Siberell: 8:12

Yeah, nice.

Christine Zito: 8:13

So, all right, let’s move on. Um, at the park, there’s a there’s a lot of different types of races that go on. What what are those races?

Pete Siberell: 8:24

So we’re a thoroughbred track. Uh Los Alamitos, which is part of the circuit, they run quarter horses at night, but um, between the three major tracks in Southern California during the day, Del Mar, Los Alamitos, and Santa Anita, they’re all thoroughbreds. Um, and they age uh from two years up to about even eight or nine years old. Um so throughout the year, we we race about seven months out of the 12 year round. Um so we’ll have races um on the dirt, on the grass, various distances. Um some are claiming races, which are the lower level types of races, all the way up to a million, two million dollar races that could be part of either the Breeders’ Cup or big races like the Santa Anita Handicap, the Santa Derby. So um a lot of you know, we race three days a week. Um we’re about to uh start our our our autumn meet, which is a short meet um for about five weeks. Um and then we’ll take a break and we’ll come back the day after Christmas and go all the way through the middle of June of of 26.

Christine Zito: 9:34

When you say the races are still going on now, is that people coming in and betting on the cam with the cameras? Because I are are the horses still there?

Pete Siberell: 9:41

Yes, horses are s they just came back from Del Mar, actually. So they’re they’re here in training every every day except for um the Del Mar season, which is in the summertime. So they’re here. We have about sixteen hundred horses live on the backside year round, except for that period when they’re down at Del Mar.

Christine Zito: 9:58

1,600?

Pete Siberell: 10:00

Yes, that many. Yeah, it’s like a little city back there. I mean, they’ve got you know, they’ve got a animal hospital, they’ve got a recreation center, they’ve got a dining hall. Um we’ve got about 750 people who live back there, work for the horses in another when the and then another, say 2,500 come excuse me, come in each day to help care for them. So uh it’s a big operation.

Christine Zito: 10:22

Yeah, that you know what I never knew that. Now, with the when the races happen, when the gates open, people buy their tickets, you have your seating, there’s different places where people can s can sit. Can you share that? Because people will will say, Well, where do I sit?

Pete Siberell: 10:40

So now let’s Yeah, so we have a ri variety of of, as you’re right, variety of seating um from walk around uh in in the paddock or in the track apron, even in the infield, all the way up to um uh the what we call the there’s three restaurants, sit-down restaurants there. One is called Silks, one is called Front Runner, um, and another is basically the terrace food court. Um so you’ve there are a variety of of different options you have depending on whether you want to be inside or outside, you want to dress casually or kind of dr or dress up. Um some people like to sit down at a table and be there all day with lunch and a waiter. Um I prefer, I’d rather be in a box in a set of box seats along the track, um, kind of like kind of at a Dodger game where you’re with people right next to sitting next to you, whether it’s two people or six people, or sometimes I’ll get people all together, a whole bunch of boxes strung together, um, where they’re kind of on their own for food and drink, which is very close by. But you there’s you’re outside, you’re near the finish line, um, you have a great vantage point to see this, see the races. So all kinds of different options. We have a great ticket office that can help push, you know, put people in the right place depending on their preferences. Um I prefer the whole box seat area.

Christine Zito: 12:07

The whole box seat, you’ve got to show me that one day. Yeah. I probably know it.

Pete Siberell: 12:11

Right there, it’s right down the it’s down the stretch. So from the uh you know, from the eighth eighth pole down to all to the finish line are all box seats. Oh, okay. Then even above that are we put in twelve luxury suites, and that ranges from twenty to forty people in a suite. Yeah. And then that’s total decadence with with service and bedding bedding aids and um uh food and drink, and you can bet right there in the suite if you want.

Christine Zito: 12:36

And the suite has like you can walk down the little stairs and see what’s going on.

Pete Siberell: 12:39

Yeah, there’s an outside area, outside benches, outside or sofas, I should say, out front in front of the um the suite. So those are good options for you know for parties, um, events, just people hanging out together, want to be together um for the day.

Christine Zito: 12:54

Now, people can also rent out they can rent not only for wedding, I’m trying to think like what do you call it, offices or like a a conference room. Do you have like a conference room type thing?

Pete Siberell: 13:06

We do, we do a number of of uh meetings and um you know a lot of what we do is we’ll s we’ll sell a couple rooms, whether it be the director’s room or the or the Baldwin conference room for meetings in the morning, and then our first race is at 12 30 or 1 o’clock, so people will go from their meeting into having a day at the races. So it’s a pretty cool uh combination of workplay.

Christine Zito: 13:28

With some of the events that the Santanita Park puts on, one of them that I love that I’ve done almost every year except when COVID happened, and that or and I think after well, you would probably know, is the 5k derby. What does that take to put together? Because you have like what 15,000 runners?

Pete Siberell: 13:51

Not that many. I would love to have that many. That’s such a big number, Christine.

Christine Zito: 13:55

I can’t remember. Should I bring it down 5,000, 6,000?

Pete Siberell: 13:59

Bring it down to about 6,000. Okay, okay. Yeah.

Christine Zito: 14:01

But that’s still a lot of runners.

Pete Siberell: 14:03

Yeah, it’s a lot of runners. It’s one of the biggest 5Ks um in Southern California, I’m proud to say. Um and I started that when I first came to Santa Anita, and I told my boss at the time, I said, um, we need to have a a 5K run here, and it has to be on the busiest day of the year. And so it’s basically a logistical nightmare with you know upsetting training schedules and the city streets and people getting to and from the arboretum and back to the track. And but it’s really a cool experience. The whole idea was just to get people who maybe had not seen Santa Anita to to bring them inside, to bring them into the infield after the after the race, finish on the track actually. Finish on the track. And then spill into the infield and see how gorgeous and grand it is and stay for a few races and hopefully come back and with the family or whoever whoever else and um you know make it a basically we’re always recruiting. We want people to come.

Christine Zito: 14:57

If you’re listening on podcasting, um go to YouTube because I’ll show you some footage of the race yeah I did because you know Pete puts it together, but let me tell you from a runner’s view, you start and you run across the the shops of Santa Anita, right? Then you go on to Baldwin and then you go into the Arboretum, you run in the Arboretum, it’s beautiful. Um all the peacocks are like, Why are you running so early in the morning? So we come out, and you will mo a lot of times you’ll see Pete as you cross the street from the Arboretum back into the Santa Anita Park. And you actually get this get a very small view, a little bit of the background. And then you go under, I think, is it two tunnels? I can’t remember if it’s one tunnel. Yeah, two tunnels, and then the last tunnel you you come up, you start coming onto the track, and then you end. It is just it’s an amazing time. I love that run. I do it every year.

Pete Siberell: 15:53

Yeah, it’s a great community event. I as you’re right, I s I stand there at on Baldwin at Gate 7 when people coming back from the Arboretum, I get to see every single person, um, which is really cool for me. And the people we a lot of repeats, we get the city council coming out from our city of Arcadia. And um, I we we uh also have a competition. Dominic Lazaretto, the city manager, puts on a competition for city staff. So department by department, there’s a there’s a competition with each other, and there’s always a annual trophy that’s given out at a city council meeting to the fastest uh department. So it’s pretty cool to um not only have that community aspect to it, but to be you know promoting um fitness um and healthy lifestyles. Um and I should uh throw out a couple of shout-outs to major sponsors. One is USCR Kadia Hospital, who’s been with us some from day one. They’ve been fantastic to work with, and again, that fits into what that’s what that event’s all about. And then the shops at Santa Anita have have been um there for us every year as well as a great sponsor. We do the pre-registration uh event packet pickup the day before at the mall each year.

Christine Zito: 17:05

So And not only that, wait, there’s more if you come after the race. You got this whole carnival, you got booths.

Pete Siberell: 17:12

Yes.

Christine Zito: 17:13

And it’s just you know what, it’s just a lot of you have beer, you can get it.

Pete Siberell: 17:17

Yes. But yes, so we’ve in kind of in tandem uh put on a carnival the same weekend, which really works out well for a lot of the families. There’s a kids run, um, depending on the age, whether it’s all the way around the the training track or just part way down it, but a lot of those kids jump right into all the to the carnival rides after the race.

Christine Zito: 17:35

I know. See, we’re just I now I can’t wait. It’s gonna it’s is it always the first Saturday, second Saturday?

Pete Siberell: 17:41

It’s well, the the San Diego Derby is always four weeks prior to the Kentucky Derby, and the Kentucky Derby is always the first Saturday in May. So I think it’s like Saturday the third or the fourth of April.

Christine Zito: 17:53

Yeah, it’s always right around, and that’s no fooling.

Pete Siberell: 17:56

I get it.

Christine Zito: 17:57

I just have to say. Okay. All right, let’s uh let’s talk about sometimes you know, you get these people that uh all right, I’m just gonna say it like it is, all these animal rights and the things that you went through. I think it was before COVID and all this stuff that was happening with the horses. How do how do you and the park handle that type of controversy where they stand out and have these awful signs and uh it was a rough stretch for us.

Pete Siberell: 18:25

Um the a lot of that is well, all of pretty much all of it is is basically gone away um because we have I think we under we understood that there were had to be some changes made to the way horses were uh supervised and uh and and looked at before they went out out on the racetrack. And in the old days, we felt that maybe the trainers knew best what their horses uh could do and could not do on the track and found that maybe we should be a little more look a little more closely and have more oversight of of every horse that goes out on the track. And we invested heavily in imaging machines on the uh on the backside in the equine hospital, more vet checks, more records, and as it turns out, um as painful as it was, um, we really turned the corner on um uh uh horse injuries, fatalities, um, where to where now we’re one of the safest racetracks in the country. Um and we I read something the other day where there are 375,000 training sessions on the track um every year. So we’re we’re something like 99% um percent safety record. Um that is great. So it’s we’ve really it’s been an amazing turnaround and uh we’re pretty proud of it.

Christine Zito: 19:48

I think that I I I think that the congratulations. I’m just gonna do it like that. I you know, I’m gonna say this. My grand my grandpa, he was a maintenance man there. And he retired at the San Anita Park. And he used to tell me how well you guys took care of the horses, and you know, you always you always have a bad seed, you always got uh someone who doesn’t really uh the owners and those that with the horses. So for me, you know, knowing all of that, I know that the Santa Nata Park does its best for the health of the horses, the track, and the people. Yeah, you know, so I think that that’s I give you kudos for uh thank you.

Pete Siberell: 20:28

Yeah, safety is number one for us.

Christine Zito: 20:31

So okay. I think everybody’s been waiting for this because I have been waiting for this part, and that is something very big is gonna be happening in 2028. Does anybody know? Anybody know? Okay, we all know. The Olympics is coming to Los Angeles, and the Santa Anita Park has been chosen, I have it here, and uh has been chosen to host team and individual competitions and in uh jumping, dresses, and inventing. I have no idea what any of those are, but that’s what it says. Okay. How do you win something like this, if that uh is the case? Because I know another city is not really happy about it.

Pete Siberell: 21:15

Right. Well, this is yeah, this has evolved. The decision to host the equestrian games for the 28 um has evolved um from I think first Hansen Dam in the valley and then uh uh certainly called Galway Downs in Temecula.

Promotional Video: 21:32

Yeah.

Pete Siberell: 21:33

Um and then I think was probably six weeks ago or so announced it was actually coming to Santa Anita instead. Um I a lot of it was because they wanted to make it closer to the core of LA. Um secondly to return to some iconic um uh structures, venues that were here in ’84 when we last hosted it, and see, you know, can you do it? Can that facility handle uh the requirements of of hosting an Olympics event? And we um uh we showed that last November. We had two and two wake weekends, um back-to-back weekends November. We hosted a two world-class um international equestrian um uh events in the infield. We constructed three show arenas where they could do the dressage and and the show jumping.

Christine Zito: 22:30

Um and then dressage, I suppose.

Pete Siberell: 22:32

Dressage, yes. And then the third part of that is a cross country course, um, which w will tie into our our current uh downhill uh turf course, but we’ve got some work to do to make that happen.

Christine Zito: 22:47

Cross country. That’s like a long run.

Pete Siberell: 22:50

It’s a long run, yeah. If you look back in last year, well 24 was in Vers at Versailles, where all the equestrian um events were held, um just some gorgeous um footage of those cross-country courses about three or four miles long, actually. Um and it’s it’s gorgeous. Um it’s a beautiful sport with you know, we have with jumps and water features and that kind of thing. Um but that’s something we have to have done and in place by July of 27 um because we have to do it have to do a test run for the Olympic people a year prior to uh to op to when we open in in uh 28.

Christine Zito: 23:30

The cross-countrying, which is known as eventing, how long do you happen to know? Three to four miles. Three to four miles.

Pete Siberell: 23:36

I’ve seen like 4,800 meters is the last one I saw.

Christine Zito: 23:39

Yeah, because they’re jumping, like you said, they’re doing uh skills, terrain with obstacles.

Pete Siberell: 23:47

Right. Yeah, all that, yeah. It’s um it’s a major commitment, and then by the time we’re finished, um we will have probably the preeminent uh equestrian facility, you know, in uh particularly obviously in California, but even nationwide.

Christine Zito: 24:03

That is great.

Pete Siberell: 24:04

So whether it’s racing or or these equestrian events, this San Anita’s the place to go.

Christine Zito: 24:10

Um now this is not the first time the Olympics have come to the Santa Anita Park, am I correct?

Pete Siberell: 24:17

That’s right. Um so there’s you know, 32 everybody knows about um at the Hook Coliseum, but 84 uh I’ll tell the story. I um 1984, I was dating a girl down from Pallas Verdes, which is horse country down there, Rolling Hills area, and she literally dragged me to Santa Anita um 1984 to come see the Olympics held there, um, equestrian games, and I didn’t want to go, I had no idea about horses, didn’t know anything about Santa Anita. Um I was kind of there reluctantly, but you know, they pulled it off, did a wonderful job. Right in it was sold right in front of the grandstand um on the main track. Um here this for 28 it will be in the infield on these show arenas that we’ve built, along along with the um uh with the cross-country course that’s that’s being constructed in the North Lot.

Christine Zito: 25:08

Wow, I think that is just a great it’s it is exciting for the city of Arcadia, you know. Um now I’m gonna give away a little bit where I live. I can walk. I jog I jog by uh the um the racetrack. So with the LA Olympics, do you happen to know yet uh ticket sales, scheduling, anything like that yet, Pete?

Pete Siberell: 25:29

Very coming. This is a really steep learning curve for all of us. I think we just got gotten involved the last couple months. We’ve had a couple meetings with the LA 28 people. Um they’re kind of running around their heads cut off because they’ve got 25 venues to cover. Um I don’t have tick information on tickets yet. I think we’ll have something up on our website pretty soon. Um I do know that we’ll probably have handle somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 people a day during the I think there’s six, seven days of of events happening at Santa Anita. Then after that, actually, are the Paralympics after the the LA 28 Olympics. So we’ll also have equestrian games for for uh uh pair athletes as well.

Christine Zito: 26:12

Okay, so here’s a my niece is into she loves horses, so she rides horses, so she competes, but she does okay, and and you can you can email me or Facebook me if I’m not getting the terminology right or even Pete can correct me. She does barrel racing. She wrote the horse run. Do you are are you doing that at the racetrack?

Pete Siberell: 26:34

Not in conjunction with the Olympics. Um we are planning a rodeo event. I’ve been asked to you know to block off the infield um for a rodeo event, I think, in July. Um and that would include barrel racing and July of 2026.

Christine Zito: 26:52

I’m gonna get my niece involved.

Pete Siberell: 26:54

So again, that’s something will be up on the website on that, and I’ll I’ll check into that, give you more information on that.

Christine Zito: 26:58

Wow, so many things. We’ve got the Olympics, now we got a rodeo. Um now we we’re in our we’re in October. Something special is coming Christmas.

Pete Siberell: 27:09

Yeah, yes.

Christine Zito: 27:10

I want to talk about that. Um get your ice skating shoes on.

Pete Siberell: 27:14

I saw in the news the other day that like last week they said they’re hundred days to Christmas. So even less now.

Christine Zito: 27:20

Now I’m stressed.

Pete Siberell: 27:21

I me too. Um so we were we started talks with um these guys, there the company’s called Enchant. And back in 2020 or so before COVID, we were talking to them about a major holiday light show event, kind of a spectacular event in the our South Parking lot next to the next to the shops at Santa Anita. And COVID hit, and we had to push that off. Um what these guys did originally, how they came about, was starting to uh they were decorating people’s houses during Christmas time, and that built into uh working with um minor league baseball parks, which were not you know being used any for anything during the holidays, to again uh create a holiday lighting spectacular kind of show. Um and they actually moved into the Seattle to the Seattle Mariners Stadium. I flew up to see it and I’ve I was completely knocked off, knocked off my feet with their qu the quality of this event. Um but it’s it’s gonna have you know a meandering skate trail, it’s gonna have 80-foot Christmas tree, it’s gonna have um snow hills, um booths, food and drink, you know, for the holidays. Um and everything now, Christine, is like you know, is take everybody taking pictures. So this is just perfect for taking pictures.

Christine Zito: 28:46

Is Santa gonna show up?

Pete Siberell: 28:47

Santa will be there uh uh multiple Santa’s, I’m sure. Um but this is the first time that they’ve built something from ground up. This basic and so that’s why I’m kind of intrigued to see what what it’s how it’s gonna look how it’s gonna look not only from inside but also outside out on Huntington and elsewhere.

Christine Zito: 29:08

Is there gonna be an ice skating trail?

Pete Siberell: 29:10

Yeah, and it’s well it’s it’s in Seattle, and I think the same kind of thing they want to do here is basically a meandering skate trail, just kind of a round loop. You can take and it’s really I mean it’s the mood is fantastic.

Christine Zito: 29:24

That’s cool. So they get to ice skate around the whole event and be oh wow, it’s almost like taking a train ride.

Pete Siberell: 29:29

Yeah, and then there’s some kind of um what do you call them? Scavenger hunt, apparently they built into this into this event as well. So it’s really how to ice skate. I’m sure they can help you with I don’t put it.

Christine Zito: 29:42

I roller skated a lot, but I don’t have to be.

Pete Siberell: 29:46

I don’t I don’t know how they’re gonna do that.

Christine Zito: 29:48

Oh my god.

Pete Siberell: 29:49

But it sounds it’s gonna be great. I mean they start moving in the middle of October, and first performances will be at the middle of November, and they’ll they’ll uh go through Christmas.

Christine Zito: 29:58

That is Well, uh there’s so many things I you you’ll have to come back and I do thank you for even sponsoring Arcadia FYI. Our pleasure doing great work. I think it’s great. Um Is there anything else that you would like? I know you have so many uh the race is open the day after Christmas.

Pete Siberell: 30:18

Yes.

Christine Zito: 30:19

So we have the the Christmas what is that called? I know you just said it, the Christmas um event that’s happening.

Pete Siberell: 30:25

Enchant.

Christine Zito: 30:26

Enchant.

Pete Siberell: 30:27

So we’ll start our autumn meet we’ll go through s October 26th. Um not so sure when this air when this show airs, but um we’ll take a break, then we’ll start the day after Christmas, and then as I say, go through the middle of June.

Christine Zito: 30:42

Do you have any do you do you ever do things on New Year’s Eve to open up the new year? Um I know we have the Rose Parade coming.

Pete Siberell: 30:50

Yeah, we we do actually we do some number of events with with the Tournament of Roses, depending on it’s a lot of it is up to the president at the time, where they do parties at their discretion at various venues, but we’ve been lucky enough to host a lot of the Tournament of Roses events uh at Santa Anita. Um in terms of you know uh fireworks and New Year’s Eve, that doesn’t work with horses on the ground. So so we we avoid that kind of thing.

Christine Zito: 31:19

When is the Breeders’ Cup coming back?

Pete Siberell: 31:21

Don’t know. Um hasn’t nothing’s been announced yet. Um Delmar will um it’ll be at this year’s Breeders’ Cup will be at Del Mar at the end of uh October. And then next year we’ll be at Keeneland in Kentucky, in Lexington, Kentucky. Year after that we’ll be at Belmont Park, which is completely being renovated uh in New York um as a racetrack. So they’ll be opening and hosting the Breeders’ Cups.

Christine Zito: 31:49

And that’s in 2028.

Pete Siberell: 31:51

That puts us into 2029, 27.

Christine Zito: 31:53

Is it 2027? Yeah, 2027, honestly.

Pete Siberell: 31:56

And then so we’re hopefully uh uh back on the rotation in 28 to come back to the West Coast, we’re hoping, but nothing’s been announced. We’d love to have it back.

Christine Zito: 32:03

I know. I have to say I I volunteered at that Breeders’ Cup, and it was one of the best events that I got to volunteer in.

Pete Siberell: 32:10

And thank you for your for your help on that.

Christine Zito: 32:11

It’s been a great I still have my shirt, I still have everything that was it was great.

Pete Siberell: 32:15

So And we’ll and also speaking of volunteering, uh I’m sure I’ll be involved somehow um with the volunteer um portion of the Olympics. Um recruiting people. Um obviously Breeders Cup volunteers will be right number one on the list to to be contacted uh to help to help with this with with the Olympics.

Christine Zito: 32:35

So all tickets and everybody that wants to buy tickets, whether it be in the suites and the boxes, it’s all on your website.

Pete Siberell: 32:44

Uh at least some preliminary information what to expect.

Christine Zito: 32:47

But they can always go, oh, I before we go, I ha Clocker’s Corner. Okay. I know that sometimes I like to go, it’s so relaxing. On Saturday mornings, I get up and I go and I just sit and I just watch the horses, they’re they’re training and running.

Pete Siberell: 33:02

Yes. So yeah, horses are on the track from 4 45 in the morning till 10 in the morning every day. So encourage people, and it’s free to go down and see the horses train. Um it’s a great spot, particularly on weekends. We get a lot of people in and break have breakfast, watch the horses, um, have a cup of coffee. Um Rosie Um Ibarra is down there. She’s she’s a mainstay down in the kitchen. She’ll take care of you in terms of breakfast.

Promotional Video: 33:28

Breakfast burritos, and then there you go.

Pete Siberell: 33:30

And then we have um we’ll have tram tours on check the website, but I think at least on Saturdays, if not Sundays, we have uh tram leaving Clocker’s Corner that takes uh people through the backside and then over into the paddock to see the Jock’s room and the Silk’s room, and it’s a really cool experience for people.

Christine Zito: 33:50

See all these things that I didn’t even know that were going on at the Santa Anita Park. Thank you so much, Pete, for coming in and sharing with us. And you will definitely be coming back as the Olympics get closer. And everything that we talked about will be on arcadiafyi uh.com. All the the websites and any information that comes up, I’ll I will help in um informing you on everything that happens at the San Anita Park. Thank you so much.

Pete Siberell: 34:18

Thanks, Christina. I really appreciate you getting the word out about uh about about us and everything else going on in Arcadia.

Christine Zito: 34:23

Yeah, it is see, uh weren’t you? I was you always learn something about the city of Arcadia, especially iconic places like the San Anita Park because we’re so familiar with it and yet we don’t really know what goes on inside. And you gotta go to the front runner restaurant, their food is delicious. Crab cakes. Yeah, oh they are just everything uh you just gotta go. You just you and well let me ask you this can people come in? Um the gates open, and people can just go in and uh they can go upstairs, they can go to the front runner, all of that’s open to the public.

Pete Siberell: 34:59

I mean, people don’t have a reservation if you’re gonna use you know, eat in front runner or soaps restaurants.

Christine Zito: 35:06

And they they have a gift store. It’s just there’s so much. Uh Sea Biscuit is in the paddock right there in the center. I mean, there’s just so much to see at the San Anita Park. I just want to thank our sponsors once again, Longo Toyota in El Monte. Gotta stop by, check out uh the cars. They do more than just sell cars on that 1500-acre lot. Star 7 Financial with Francine Chiu, the San Anita Park, who you just heard from Pete, the Le Méridien Hotel in Arcadia and Pasadena. Until next time, just make it a great and be blessed!