La Canada Stakes Betting Guide

The La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita is a graded stakes race that captivates both seasoned horse racing enthusiasts and newcomers alike. Taking place at the historic Santa Anita Park, this stakes race offers a thrilling spectacle where top-class fillies and mares compete for glory.

In this comprehensive betting guide, we’ll delve into the race’s background, historical highlights, winning trends, and the best types of wagers to play.

The La Canada Stakes

The La Canada Stakes is a Grade 3 thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares aged four years old and above. It typically covers a distance of 1 1/16 miles on the main dirt track at Santa Anita Park.

This race is a significant event in the winter racing calendar. After just two years it earned grade 1 status. It has maintained its graded stakes status since then, although it has been downgraded to a grade 3. Still it often attracts a competitive field of talented horses.

How to bet on the La Canada Stakes

Thanks to online platforms like Bovada, BetUS, and BetDSI, players can place wagers from the convenience of their own home at tracks around the country.

Santa Anita’s menu of prestigious races throughout the racing calendar and large pools make it popular among horse players. Harnessing this popularity Santa Anita races are offered on every major online betting platform.

Adding to the allure of using these sites is the fact that players can increase their bankroll by taking advantage of signup bonuses, promotions, and rebates.

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La Canada Stakes Bet Types

The La Canada offers the same traditional bets offered at Santa Anita daily. Here’s a look at the typical wagering menu at Santa Anita Park.

Single Horse Bets

These wagers require players to pick a single horse to finish somewhere in the top 3.

Bet on a Horse to Win

When players bet a horse to win, the horse must win the race. This is the most challenging single horse bet but offers the highest return when correct.

Place Wager

The place wager provides a little extra wiggle room, but the payouts are often much less than the win payouts. When betting a horse to place, you are betting that horse will finish in the top 2. If your horse takes first or second, you cash the ticket.

Show Bets

The final single horse bet is the easiest one to hit, but often provides very little return unless you are betting on a longshot. When betting to show your horse must come in first, second, or third for you to cash a ticket.

Verticals Wagers

Vertical wagers refer to picking horses in multiple finishing positions. One of the unique aspects of vertical wagers is the ability to play them straight, boxed, or wheeled. These concepts can be applied to any of the vertical wagers.

Straight Wager

In this case, the player is predicting the exacta order of finish. The wager will cost the denomination of the wager placed. Betting a $1 trifecta on 1-2-3 will cost $1 but the final order of finish must be #1 in first, #2 in second, and #3 in third to win.

Boxed Wager –  Opposite of Straight Wager

Boxing is the opposite of a straight wager. When a wager is boxed, players cover every possible combination of the horses they selected. However, you will have to pay for each combination.

The same $1 trifecta on 1-2-3 will now be more expensive but give you more chances to win. A $1 trifecta box on 1-2-3 will cost $6 because there are 6 different combinations that 1, 2, and 3 can finish together in the top three spots.

Boxes can include more horses than finishing positions, but the cost will escalate quickly. For example, a 4 horse $1 trifecta box has 24 possible winning combinations and would cost $24.

Wheels –  Between the Cost Efficiency of Straight Bets and the Coverage of Boxes

Spending $24 on a 4-horse trifecta box may seem a bit steep. Wheels can be a nice hybrid between the cost efficiency of straight bets and the coverage of boxes. In a wheel bet, players isolate horses in specific positions.

Let’s say that you like horses 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the race to cover the top 3 positions. For a $1 trifecta box this is going to cost $60. However, your opinion is that #1 or #2 is likely to be the winner and #5 is only a threat to clunk up into third.

Doing The Math

Using this information, you can now bet a $1 trifecta wheel the 1, 2 over the 1, 2, 3, 4 over the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. That $60 wager has now been reduced to $18 (2 possibilities in first, 3 possibilities in second, and 3 possibilities in third or 2x3x3x$1).

Although this option doesn’t cover as many combinations as the box, it still gives you adequate coverage while matching your wager to your opinion.

With the knowledge of how to bet verticals, let’s look at the wagers offered in this category.

Exacta Wager

The exacta is usually a $1 minimum wager and requires the player to have the first and second place horses correct.

Trifecta Bets – With Increased Difficulty comes Increased Payouts

Trifecta’s provide a little extra challenge with the bettor needing to correctly pick the first, second, and third place horses. With the increased difficulty comes increased payouts. The minimum denomination for this wager at Santa Anita is $1.

Superfecta

Hitting the superfecta in any race is no small feat, but it is particularly difficult in a big field like the Derby. This wager requires players to select the top 4 finishers in order. The difficulty makes this bet daunting, but the reward if hit tends to compensate for the added risk.

Most days you can play the wager for as low as $.10.

Horizontal Wagers

These wagers are called horizontal because they require players to select the winner of multiple races in a row or in a particular sequence.

Daily Double – Simplest of all horizontal wagers

The Daily Double is the simplest of all horizontal wagers requiring the player to select winners of 2 races.

Pick X

These wagers can require players to pick anywhere from 3 to 6 races within a given sequence. The payouts tend correlate with the number of legs in the sequence meaning that a pick 3 is likely to have the lowest payout, while a pick 6 score is usually the largest payout of any wager at the track on a given day.

These wagers can range anywhere from $.50 minimums to $2 depending on the wager type and track.

La Canada Picks

Betting News provides handicapping tools that allow players to sort through the data of a race at Santa Anita. Along with the La Canada card, these tools are available every day for the California track.

To get a full picture of the race, a more subjective narrative analysis can bolster the data provided. Betting News covers a vast majority of the graded stakes races throughout the year in our weekly articles.

La Canada Stakes Historical Information

While not necessarily valuable for handicapping the upcoming race, it can be interesting to look back at past results to see if any trends pop out. Which trainers produce the most winners? Which post position is most valuable? How often does the favorite win?

Let’s take a look at past winners of the La Canada.

Past La Canada Stakes Winners

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Distance	Grade
2023	Kirstenbosch	Kazushi Kimura	John W. Sadler	1+1⁄16 miles	III
2022	As Time Goes By	Flavien Prat	Bob Baffert	1+1⁄16 miles	III
2021	Sanenus (CHI)	Umberto Rispoli	Michael W. McCarthy	1+1⁄16 miles	III
2020	Queen Bee to You	Ruben Fuentes	Andrew Lerner	1+1⁄16 miles	III
2019	Escape Clause	Tyler Baze	Don Schnell	1+1⁄16 miles	III
2018	Mopotism	Mario Gutierrez	Doug F. O’Neill	1 mile	II
2017	Vale Dori (ARG)	Mike E. Smith	Bob Baffert	1+1⁄16 miles	II
2016	Taris	Gary L. Stevens	Simon Callaghan	1+1⁄16 miles	II
2015	Thegirlinthatsong	Rafael Bejarano	Jerry Hollendorfer	1+1⁄16 miles	II
2014	Spellbound	Victor Espinoza	Richard E. Mandella	1+1⁄16 miles	II
2013	More Chocolate	Garrett K. Gomez	John W. Sadler	1+1⁄16 miles	II
2012	Include Me Out	Joseph Talamo	Ronald W. Ellis	1+1⁄16 miles	II
2011	Always a Princess	Martin Garcia	Bob Baffert	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2010	Striking Dancer	Alex O. Solis	Kenneth G. McPeek	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2009	Life Is Sweet	Garrett K. Gomez	John Shirreffs	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2008	Dawn After Dawn	Garrett K. Gomez	John W. Sadler	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2007	Balance	Victor Espinoza	David E. Hofmans	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2006	Seafree	Pat Valenzuela	Robert J. Frankel	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2005	Tarlow	Pat Valenzuela	John Shirreffs	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2004	§ Cat Fighter	Alex O. Solis	Bob Baffert	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2003	Got Koko	Alex O. Solis	Bruce Headley	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2002	Summer Colony	Gary L. Stevens	Mark A. Hennig	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2001	Spain	Victor Espinoza	D. Wayne Lukas	1+1⁄8 miles	II
2000	Scholars Studio	Corey Nakatani	Martin F. Jones	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1999	Manistique	Gary L. Stevens	John Shirreffs	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1998	Fleet Lady	Garrett K. Gomez	Jerry Hollendorfer	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1997	Belle’s Flag	Corey Nakatani	Darrell Vienna	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1996	Jewel Princess	Alex O. Solis	Wallace Dollase	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1995	Dianes Halo	Corey Nakatani	David C. Cross Jr.	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1994	Stalcreek	Gary L. Stevens	David Bernstein	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1993	Alysbelle	Eddie Delahoussaye	Jack Van Berg	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1992	Exchange	Laffit Pincay Jr.	William Spawr	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1991	Fit to Scout	Julio A. Garcia	Jack Van Berg	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1990	Gorgeous	Eddie Delahoussaye	Neil D. Drysdale	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1989	Goodbye Halo	Pat Day	Charles E. Whittingham	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1988	Hollywood Glitter	Laffit Pincay Jr.	Gary F. Jones	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1987	Family Style	Gary L. Stevens	D. Wayne Lukas	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1986	Lady’s Secret	Chris McCarron	D. Wayne Lukas	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1985	Mitterand	Eddie Delahoussaye	Randy Winick	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1984	Sweet Diane	Ray Sibille	Robert J. Frankel	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1983	Avigaition	Eddie Delahoussaye	Vivian M. Pulliam	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1982	Safe Play	Don Brumfield	Harvey L. Vanier	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1981	Summer Siren	Marco Castaneda	Louis R. Carno	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1980	Glorious Song (CAN)	Chris McCarron	Gerald W. Belanger Jr.	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1979	B. Thoughtful	Donald R. Pierce	Robert L. Wheeler	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1978	Taisez Vous	Donald R. Pierce	Robert L. Wheeler	1+1⁄8 miles	I
1977	Lucie Manet	Bill Shoemaker	Jaime Villagomez	1+1⁄8 miles	II
1976	Raise Your Skirts	Bill Shoemaker	Barney Willis	1+1⁄8 miles
1975	Chris Evert	Jorge Velasquez	Joseph A. Trovato	1+1⁄16 miles

How to watch the La Canada

Santa Anita doesn’t have mainstream television distribution unless it is Breeders’ Cup related. Players hoping to watch the race live will want to hop onto their online wagering account.

Many of these sites will allow you to live stream the races from their platform.