Five Grade 1s highlight Santa Anita spring meet; Vanity shortened

Edited Press Release

With the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita (G1) poised to serve as its highlight, Santa Anita's 2016 Spring Meeting, which begins May 5 and runs through July 10, will offer fans and horsemen 34 stakes, with 16 graded events that include five Grade 1 races.

The Spring Meet will begin with the $200,000 Royal Heroine (G2) for older fillies and mares at one mile on turf May 5, and will be followed on May 6, by the American (G3) for three-year-olds and up at one mile on the turf.

On May 7, Santa Anita will card the Senorita (G3) for three-year-old fillies at one mile on the turf and the $75,000 Desert Code for three-year-olds at about 6 1/2 furlongs down the hillside turf course.

The first of five Grade 1 stakes will be run on Memorial Day, May 30:

May 30: $300,000 Gamely, fillies and mares three and up, 1 1/8 miles on turf.

June 4: $400,000 Vanity, fillies and mares three and up, one mile.

June 4: $400,000 Shoemaker Mile, for three year olds and up, one mile on turf.

June 25: $300,000 Triple Bend, three year olds and up, seven furlongs.

June 25: $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita, three year olds and up, 1 1/4 miles.

Other highlights of the meet include a trio of Grade 2 stakes worth $200,000 each: the May 22 Californian for three-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles; the May 29 Charles Whittingham for three-year-olds and up at 1 1/4 miles on the turf; and the June 19 Honeymoon for three-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles on turf on June 19.