1934 – The newly formed Los Angeles Turf Club founded the current Santa Anita Park on Christmas Day (December 25) in 1934, the first officially established racetrack in California.

1935 – The first Santa Anita Handicap was inaugurated in February 1935, nicknamed the Big ‘Cap.

1937 – Since the track is near Los Angeles, Santa Anita has traditionally been linked with the film and television industries. The movie A Day at the Races was filmed at the racetrack and featured in A Star Is Born (1937). There are also stars like Bing Crosby, Spencer Tracy, Errol Flynn, Alex Trebek, and MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer, who owned horses raced at the park.

1940 – Seabiscuit won the Santa Anita Handicap even in his last start.

1942 – Racing at Santa Anita Park was suspended due to the Second World War and was utilized as an “assembly center” for Japanese Americans excluded from the West Coast. Over 18,000 people stayed in horse stables for several months, and the militaries built military-style barracks on the Santa Anita race park. 

1945 – After the war, the track was reopened on May 5, 1945. It went through prosperity when Busher became one of racing’s great mares, and Johnny, “The Pumper” Longden, continued his rise to the winningest rider in history.

1950 – Santa Anita Park started to present the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award annually. It is awarded to a rider who displays high standards of personal and professional conduct on and off the racetrack. In the same year, Santa Anita hosted its first millionaire racing, Citation and Noor, who upset “Big Cy” in the 1950 Big ‘Cap and again in the San Juan Capistrano. 

1951 –Willie Shoemaker, a young rider, won his first 17 successive Santa Anita riding championships.

1953 – A downhill turf course was founded on the racetrack. It added a remarkable European flair to racing at Santa Anita Park.

1960 – Santa Anita Park was enhanced, expanding the grandstand and adding more seats. 

1969 – Oak Tree Association with no facilities of its own, rented Santa Anita Park for its first autumn meeting and became the operator of the autumn meet at the racetrack. It normally ran from the end of September until early November. 

1979 – “America’s Horse” won 11 successive stakes at the track, including two Santa Anita Handicaps, two of his three Oak Tree Invitationals, and the San Juan Capistrano from November 1979 to March 1982. 

1981 & 1984 – John Henry was named Horse of the Year. Santa Anita Park was also the site of equestrian events at the 1984 Olympics.

1988 – Alysheba won the Strub Stakes and the San Bernardino and defeated Ferdinand in the 51st Big ‘Cap.

1997 – Meditrust bought the Santa Anita Companies for its real estate investment trust paired corporate share structure. Meditrust also sold the track to Magna Entertainment Corp after the special tax treatment accorded Pair Share REITs was abolished.  

2000 – The racetrack was named on America’s “Most Endangered Historic Places” list. 

2006 – Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita cohosted the Sunshine Millions. The racetrack was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. However, continued to be threatened by developers’ plans. Many attempts to ruin the track were aborted even until the year 2011. One of them was when there was a scheme to construct another mall next to Santa Anita Park, but fortunately, it was abandoned.

2007 – Santa Anita Park changed its dirt track with a synthetic surface called Cushion Track to comply with the California mandate. 

2008 – The management canceled eleven (11) racing dates due to a drainage problem with the new material, the cushion track. Hence, in December 2010, they restored the track to an all-natural dirt surface per a special state waiver.

2011 – Stronach Group acquired Santa Anita Park in 2011 until today. It is a Thoroughbred racetrack located in Arcadia, California, United States.

2014 – Santa Anita Park racing started adding more racing cards when the Hollywood Park Racetrack was closed. The track hosted Hollywood Park’s old spring dates from late April until June. 

2019 – Santa Anita Park abolished downhill turf sprints after an incident in the 2019 San Simeon Stakes. However, the hillside turf course will still be utilized for distance races. 

2020 – The COVID-19 outbreak caused the races to host without fans until it was suspended two weeks later. It returned on May 15, 2020.