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00:00Well, Friday marks the start of the Santa Anita, for me, my favorite place on earth,
00:05guys.
00:06So we are back with another edition of First Things First.
00:10All right, we're in the palatial office space of General Manager of Santa Anita Park, Mr.
00:20Nate Newby.
00:21We've got Dougal in the background having his sausage and his breakfast.
00:24He's glad to be back, are you?
00:27Absolutely.
00:28The opening weekend of the autumn meet's always fun to kick off the first two weekends.
00:31There's 15 stakes races, so the action starts quick and it's just a five-week meet, so it
00:36should be a lot of fun.
00:38It seems like we've put a lot of effort into the California crown.
00:42What is the essence of this?
00:43I know we're following on the heels of a very successful meet, like at Goldstream, with
00:48all the stakes action that they had there on their Pegasus day.
00:52Yeah, so we're really just trying to create another big day, and so Pegasus started and
00:57was not what it is today on the first year.
01:00So this year will be our first year.
01:01We'll try and build it into a big event, but we're giving away over $3 million, and let's
01:06hope in a couple of years we'll have a $40 million handle day similar to Pegasus.
01:12What kind of entertainment can we expect?
01:14Are you a Shaboosie fan, because I am.
01:16I am a big Shaboosie fan.
01:17You pretty much can't go anywhere without hearing it's the number one song in the country
01:22right now, so it should be a lot of fun.
01:25So great racing, entertainment, some amazing food, you can't go wrong.
01:29What about the wagering options we're offering, are there some new ones on tap?
01:32Yeah, so we have some new wagers, both for the autumn meet, very player friendly, a $5
01:37late double at 15%, and a $3 late pick three at 15%.
01:42Those will go every day, so it gives horse players a chance to, you know, kind of towards
01:46the end of the day when we're the only thing going, a very player friendly shot to make
01:50a score.
01:51But then we have a bunch of special wagers on California Crown Day, an all stakes $1
01:56pick five at 15%.
01:58So basically you got, and some two day bets that connect to Sunday, because of course
02:01we have two graded stakes on Sunday.
02:03So basically throughout the day you've got options, very player friendly chances to make
02:08a good score.
02:09A lot to look forward to.
02:10Do we have some Hong Kong wagering action going on?
02:12Yeah, so we're really excited about that.
02:14The first time I think that I've been here, since I've been here, where Hong Kong is going
02:19to take our last four races.
02:21So all graded stakes, and those will be simulcast in Hong Kong, going to be obviously good for
02:27handle, but also really just to get our signal international to a great market.
02:31Awesome.
02:32Thanks, Nate.
02:33Looking forward to it.
02:34And Doodle thanks you for his sausage.
02:35Thanks Zoe, and Doodle.
02:43Many thanks to GM Nate Newby.
02:45And yes, Doodle does get special sausage chopped up for him every time he goes to Santa
02:52Anita.
02:53One of the perks of being a first racing employee, Randy, if you bring your dog, you too can
02:59get free sausage on Santa Anita.
03:03But seriously guys, it's going to be a terrific weekend of racing.
03:07Friday is opening day, Saturday is California crown.
03:11And then don't forget on Sunday, we have a couple of graded stakes as well, highlighted
03:15by the grade one Zenyatta stakes.
03:18It's all going on at Santa Anita and it feels so good to be back home at the great race
03:23place.