Pearse arrives to check out Pro-Ride

Ian Pearse, founder of Santa Anita's synthetic Pro-Ride surface that has come under fire so far this meeting for the number of breakdowns, was scheduled to arrive in town Monday to check out the problem.

Last week, workers power harrowed the track and conducted tests to try to determine the cause of four breakdowns in the first four days of the meet. Two of the horses had to be euthanized. Then on Wednesday, Boozin' Bear broke down in a maiden special weight and had to be euthanized.

There have been no breakdowns during the past four racing days, but the heat is still on and there were rumors floating around earlier this week that some trainers were considering a boycott of Santa Anita until the problem was resolved.

Stay tuned.