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The horse racing track offers a great party atmosphere and this article is the perfect part guide.

Santa Anita Fans Party Guide
The Infield, Bands and Microbrew Festivals

The setting of Santa Anita makes it a popular place to spend sunny SoCal days.

There are party buses parked outside.

There are party people inside.

Santa Anita Park may be a place for horses, but it's also where people go to horse around.

This legendary race track in Arcadia provides more than a day at the races. For many from throughout the greater Los Angeles area, it's a chance to be outside doing something fun, to cut loose, to ride the rails of sports and leisure entertainment.

It's party time at Santa Anita racetrack!

Santa Anita provides the perfect party platform, an expansive facility where the Budweisers flow, the thoroughbreds can help bettors thrive and the overall atmosphere is as intoxicating as the view of spectacular San Gabriel Mountains that overlook the place like a guardian angel.

So Southern Californians hoof it over on the 210, not far from Pasadena, to the track that made Seabiscut famous, that has hosted several Breeder's Cup events and that holds races from the day after Christmas until late April every year (the 2012 season runs through April 22). There is also fall racing running from Sept. 30 thru Nov. 6 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

The winner of the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7, the last major and most important stakes for 3-year-olds headed into the Kentucky Derby, was "I'll Have Another." That seems appropriate!

The horses run and the people enjoy the spectacular view.

They trot out seeking suds and sunshine for big events like opening and closing day, the Sunshine Cup (Jan.), infield events such as microbrew festivals and bands like the Spazmatics, as well as regular race days. The appeal is obvious and immediate: The chance to gamble and win money and eat and drink the day away in a historic facility that is like stepping back into the 1920s.

All that is what brings out the party people and the party buses.

At Santa Anita, it's as easy to have a good time as it is to make a bet (and that's pretty easy).

There are bars and beer stations throughout the facility, as well a lot of other people around with which to share the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.

Sirona's Bar is the gateway to the greatness, the first place one is tempted to stop and say "let's have a drink here" before even hitting the betting windows. Sometimes, there's even a favorite local band cranking out fun '80s party tunes after the racing ends. Sirona's Bar overlooks the Seabiscut statue and is the most lively bar throughout the day.

When the band plays here, Sirona's is the post-post time place to party.

High-enders prefer the luxury of the enclosed Front Runner Restaurant, which spans almost the entire length of the front straightaway. The Turf Club hosts celebrities when they turn out for the track.

Yet it is the infield where most party people migrate; with its food, beer and betting it's a winning trifecta of fun. Most weekends, there's some type of extra event happening, be it a microbrew festival, wine festival, food trucks or bands.

The infield is less about racing and more about enjoying the atmosphere.

Like many horse racing tracks. Santa Anita opens up access to even GA ticket holders like a starting gate. People can go to the paddock to inspect the horses up close, check out the competitors during a pre-race parade of jockey and horses, then watch the race from either a seat in the grandstands, up against the railing or from the infield.

Infield events such as a microbrew festival bring out the fun people.

And all along the way there are drink stations, which makes coming here by party bus such a good idea.

For those who want to go the distance, grab a room at one of the hotels within walking distance of the track and spend the night cruising the fun and historic bars of downtown Arcadia.

FALL RACING: Santa Anita will also be having racing in the fall. It is hosting what used to be the Oak Tree, and it runs from September thru November (Sept. 28-Nov. 6).

SANTA ANITA FAN FACTS: The infield is open weekends and Monday holidays)...Racing starts at 12:30 on Saturdays and Sundays (gates open 10:30 a.m.) and at 1 p.m., on Thursdays and Fridays... General admission prices are $5 for GA, $8.50 to the clubhouse and $20 for the jackets-required Turf Club...Box seats in the grandstands are an additional $7.50 and $5 for loge seats..Parking is $4 GA, $6 preferred and $10 for limos and valet...Programs – important for betting – are $2.25.

LINKS: Arcadia's Bars. Santa Anita Park Official Website.

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