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Arcadia Mayor Gives Everyone a Geography Lesson on Where Santa Anita Racetrack REALLY Is

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Photo by KeithJ via the LAist Featured Photos pool

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The Santa Anita Racetrack has been getting quite a bit of publicity since HBO's new drama about horse-racing "Luck" premiered (ok, not all of the publicity has been great).

But the mayor of Arcadia, the city that is home to the racetrack, felt the need to school members of the national press in local geography, according to the local Patch site.

"Time Magazine, in a review on Luck, referred to 'L.A.'s Santa Anita,'" Arcadia Mayor Gary Kovacic said at a post-position draw breakfast for the 75th running of the Santa Anita Handicap. "And the publicity about the 2012 Breeders' Cup keeps mentioning 'L.A.'s Santa Anita.' I want to let everyone know that Santa Anita Park is still located in Arcadia, and we continue to cherish it as one of our city's greatest treasures."

Sorry man, this is an uphill battle. When "Time" wants to let its readers know where the racetrack is, they're going to call it Los Angeles because that's the name of the county and when you say "L.A." or "Los Angeles suburb", people in Topeka know what you're talking about.

But maybe Arcadia can try Anaheim's strategy? Or the city could also try to push this guy out of the spotlight at Hollywood premieres, but it sounds like Arcadia needs the mayor of Los Angeles as much as Tony V needs the national spotlight to keep his political career going.

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