Santa Anita Park's main track, which has been closed since December 3, will be reopened for training on Saturday.

The one-mile oval was closed because of draining concerns resulting from the installation of the new Cushion Track surface last summer. The all-weather surface was installed at a cost of more than $10-million.

“We have been closed due to the fact that our original Cushion Track surface simply was not draining properly,” Santa Anita President Ron Charles said. “Even though it’s not draining to specifications, it has improved and we’re hoping that will remain so.

“We want to sincerely thank our horsemen for being so understanding and patient. This project has taken longer than we originally intended and we know that has inconvenienced everyone, but the main thing is that we had to address these issues now, in advance of the winter rains that we do expect.”

Workers remixed the Cushion Track material, and also addressed a two-inch thick blacktop underpinning of the track.

“Due to the fact that we had far too much fine sand in the original mixture, a lot of that material had coated and effectively sealed the blacktop, which is designed to be porous,” Charles said. “It was quite a job, but we’ve got the blacktop cleaned and draining well.”

Santa Anita opens an 85-day winter/spring meeting on Wednesday. The Arcadia, California’s track’s Camino Real Turf Course will be open for horses to work over on Sunday.

“This is the best turf course in the West and we will card a minimum of three races over it on opening day,” said Michael Harlow, Santa Anita’s director of racing.

Santa Anita’s paddock will reopen to horsemen on Saturday.