ARCADIA, Calif. _ Almost a month after Santa Anita stopped racing because of a surge in horse deaths, the track reopened under a cloudless sky on Friday and completed its eight-race card with no incidents.
The last day Santa Anita held live racing was March 3, but a series of deaths that now total 22 forced the track to close and try and figure out the problem.
No definitive cause was found, although the almost 20 inches of rain was thought to be a contributing factor.
The return of racing was not met with renewed enthusiasm. The crowd was small, in line with the normal 4,000 or so that usually comes out on the last day before the weekend.
Outside the parking gates at the track, a group of around 20 protesters were carrying signs decrying horse racing.
Belinda Stronach, chief executive officer of the Stronach Group, pushed forward a series of moves that were meant to deal with how people view the sport. Her goal was to bring trust back to the sport.
Among the moves was the reduction of race-day medication, including Lasix, which aids a horse in breathing from exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhaging (EIPH), or bleeding from the lungs.
A more controversial move, which won't go into effect until later in the year, is the elimination of the riding crop, or whip, except in the cases of horse and jockey safety.
This move was opposed by the jockeys and is wending its way through a long regulatory and approval process.
But at Santa Anita on Friday, it was difficult to tell the sport had changed very much as racing resumed, seemingly, as usual.
Lost amid all the attention of this return to racing was a $200,000 1{-mile turf race, the San Luis Rey Stakes, which was won by Epical, who is trained by Jim Cassidy, who as president of the California Thoroughbred Trainers has found himself in the middle of this crisis.
"It was extremely important (the day went well)," Cassidy said. "There is no question I would just hope that for the rest of the meet everything goes like this. Believe me, (management) is doing everything they can. They are going over the top with everything they could possibly do to prevent anything from happening. Thank God for that."
The first race, for 3-year-old filly maiden claimers (female horses who have never won a race and are up for sale for $25,000) running a mile on the dirt was won by Discrete Stevie B.
She can now claim to be the first winner in what will soon be known as the new normal.
