Santa Anita Changes Its Disabled Policy

For years, Santa Anita has allowed its disabled and handicapped horse racing patrons to form a single line and to be admitted five minutes before others.

Now Santa Anita says it has stopped this practice because no other race track does this.

The new owners of Santa Anita have built a “world-class restaurant,” a seven-story elevator and TV and made other changes, but they can’t give five minutes’ early admission to the elderly and the ill.

JERRY BRES

Covina

Santa Anita’s reply: “In past years, Santa Anita allowed handicapped patrons early entrance to the track primarily because of a lack of adequate handicapped facilities and less-than-adequate access to the various seating areas of the track. With its recently completed $20-million improvement project, Santa Anita added several handicap-accessible areas to the grandstand, as well as six new elevators to better accommodate its handicapped patrons. Because of the increased accessibility and a decline in on-track attendance in recent years, it’s no longer necessary to provide early entry for handicapped patrons. Santa Anita’s policies for handicapped patrons are consistent with every racetrack in California.”