Highlighting Santa Anita Park’s continued relevance for equestrian sport, the 5-star Split Rock horse show at the vintage California track glittered with a $400,000 Longines FEI World Cup qualifier last month.
The brooding multi-hued San Gabriel mountains preside over a 90-year-old facility set on 320 acres. The venue enjoys an invigorated equestrian charisma following its selection in April as the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics’ venue for show jumping, dressage and eventing.
An overview of the grand prix arena for the Split Rock shows.
McLain Ward, who won the 5-star grand prix, called Santa Anita “a brilliant location; it’s busy enough but at the same time, a little bit more peaceful area than downtown LA. It’s an exciting venue for the Olympics.”
But Santa Anita’s significance also stems from history. It is where the equestrian competition (with the exception of eventing’s cross-country) was held at the last Los Angeles Olympics, in 1984.
That was an incredible moment, especially for the U.S., which decisively won show jumping team gold, as well as that discipline’s individual gold and silver, in addition to eventing team gold and individual silver. Coming four years after the boycotted 1980 Moscow Olympics, the ’84 LA Games were seen as a celebration of America, and its place not only in sport, but also in the world.
It was the first time since 1932 that the Olympics was staged in the U.S. Those Games, where the U.S. medaled in all three disciplines, also were in LA, with show jumping featured right before the closing ceremonies at the Memorial Coliseum, while dressage was held at a country club and eventing in LA’s Westchester neighborhood.
The athletes who competed in 1932 are long gone, but many of the riders from 1984 are still very much with us.
One of them, American show jumping team gold medalist Melanie Smith Taylor, was at the 5-star watching the action and renewing old friendships. The field of play, however, didn’t look the same as it had when she rode there in 1984.
At that time, the track’s Art Deco-esque main building in its traditional colors of Persian green and chiffon yellow was the focal point, and the jumps were on the track.
Now the arenas are set across the infield tor the Split Rock show, which has a contract to run at Santa Anita through 2027. The horses stay in temporary stalls a short hack from the action, rather than in racetrack stalls, as they did at the last Games.
Several times, Melanie was asked if being at Santa Anita brought back memories of 1984.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it’s definitely a different scene because the ring is in a different place, so that didn’t really ring a bell,” she replied.
“But when an American won a class and they played the national anthem, and I’m looking at the flag and out over the mountains, it definitely brought a tear to my eye and brought me back to ’84, standing on the podium and thinking about all that we had accomplished as a team.”
That was the USA’s first Olympic team gold in the discipline, a landmark.
Eric Navet, who competed for France in show jumping 41 years ago, also was back for the Split Rock show, helping U.S. rider Karl Cook, who won the Split Rock grand prix in 2024.
While he didn’t medal in LA, Eric had a wide range of memories about competing at Santa Anita.
“I was very young, I was 25 years old. What I remember is that there were very, very big temporary (grand)stands; very high, it was huge. They were full, full, full.
“This is the only Olympics where we were at the Olympic Village,” he recalled.
Since then, many nations, including the U.S., put up their equestrians in hotels. That means they don’t have the benefit of mingling with non-equestrian participants on a daily basis.
“We had this experience to share with other athletes from all the sports from all over the world. That was fantastic,” recounted Eric of his time in the athletes’ village. He went on after the Games to become world champion, European champion and also win team bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Santa Anita has been identified with glamour since its inception. The location in Arcadia, practically within cantering distance of Hollywood, meant it once was frequented by stars such as Cary Grant, Esther Williams, Lana Turner and a host of other big names for whom racing was their recreation of choice.
That Hollywood aura was captured at the 5-star, where statuesque women, some adorned in show girl feathers, others in glittery cowgirl outfits, brightened the VIP area. The food there was equally awesome; everything from beef Wellington and seafood towers to abundant champagne and captivating desserts .At Santa Anita, it’s all about the guest experience, and they know how to do it well.
A touch of Hollywood in the ringside hospitality area at Santa Anita.
The innate character of the venue derives not only from its history, but also its future beyond the Games. The vision of 1/ST (pronounced First), which runs the track belonging to the Stronach Group, involves consideration of non-racing horse-related activities beyond the Split Rock series and even the Olympics. The grands prix have ratcheted up every year, and in 2026, that will mean two 5-stars (2025 had a 3-star week and a 5-star week).
The idea of having show jumping at Santa Anita was “all Nikki,” according to Derek Braun, founder of the Split Rock Jumping Tour, who was referring to Nikki Walker, a member of the Canadian show jumping team and daughter of Belinda Stronach, president and chairman of the Stronach Group.
Nikki Walker and her mother, Belinda Stronach, with 5-star grand prix winner McLain Ward.
Nikki, vice president of 1/ST, said she had “no expectations” when the concept was undertaken, but the wisdom of putting it forward was soon obvious.
“Our goal was to make it one of the biggest events on tour all year from the beginning,” commented Derek, saying it was a “natural fit” for the venue. It’s a great partnership.”
It also works well for him because Split Rock is putting on the 2026 World Cup finals in Fort Worth next April.
Nikki of course is delighted with the way show jumping clicked at the track. She began focusing toward 2026 immediately after the 2025 event, as the 1/ST team continues to “grow and elevate this event even further.”
The main arena used for the Split Rock featured classes is too small for Olympic competition, and while other areas in the infield are available, no announcement has been made as to where the Games arena will be built. Eric Navet hopes it will have a view of the mountains, noting how successful the 2024 Paris Olympics setting at Versailles was with the palace as a backdrop.
Most classes for the Split Rock shows don’t start before 10:30 a.m., giving space for thoroughbreds working out on the track. Karl took advantage of the opportunity to breeze a racehorse himself, happily calling it a “wild experience.”
Ashlyn Moore, vice president of equestrian operations for 1/ST, is a former member of the track’s racing team. Following inception of the partnership with Split Rock and hosting the Longines FEI World Cup qualifier, Ashlyn transitioned more into the equestrian sport aspect. There are 1,500 horses at the track 11 months of the year (all the horses head south to Del Mar for August), but racing goes on for 10 months annually.
“We pride ourselves on the ability to keep horses safe at this facility, and I think that shows on the equestrian side,” Ashlyn said, noting there has been a major investment in top line ESI footing that has held up, even in heavy rain.
“We’re always looking to see how we can continue to grow the sport in California. Our goal is to introduce new shows,” she said, whether that involves show jumping, dressage, saddle seat or western pleasure, just one element of including the quarter horse contingent.
“We want to continue to bring horse sport to Santa Anita. It’s part of a larger process to invigorate and make this an equestrian ecosystem,” she said.
Next year, the back-to-back Split Rock shows are the only competitions scheduled, but she noted, “We’ll see what happens in ’27 (the year of the Olympic test event.)
“We never say no. The racing ecosystem, trainers and owners, have really adopted it and been really supportive of just keeping this as a year-round facility.”
What is now an area with secondary rings with a view from the grandstand may be the place where the Olympic arena will be built, but no announcement has been made about that.
While such big names as the world’s number one-ranked show jumper Kent Farrington, Laura Kraut and McLain are in the spotlight along with the VIPs at the grands prix, Santa Anita also has an eye on the average horse lover.
World Number One-ranked Kent Farrington was among the high level competitors at Santa Anita.
“We have over 2,000 people who have signed up for general admission,” Ashlyn said before the grand prix, talking about who wanted to come to the property for the horse show. The demand was such that the section where they were located was standing room only when all the seats were quickly filled for the grand prix evening.
“We’ve done outreach to equestrian barns. Not everybody knows, because it is a new facility, what is available. So we try to make that outreach and develop those partnerships. The regional market is also very important,” she emphasized.
“We talk a lot when we look at show jumping about the international scale. But the regional circuits are a new generation of sport and they’re looking up to the Karl Cooks, the Laura Krauts. It’s important to foster those programs as well.”
The concept of non-racing competition has been on the table for awhile.
Ashlyn noted, “We started thinking about this long before LA28,” made its announcement about coming to Santa Anita.
“When we were looking at what we could do with the facility, show jumping seemed like the natural thing. It’s just a great way to relight the spark.”
