A fan of thoroughbred horse racing, he decided to enter the business when California passed a paramutuel wagering bill in the early 1930s. He had spent several months examining locations in the San Francisco Area and found none of them to his liking, including windy Candlestick Point. He then connected with a group in Los Angeles that had identified 'Lucky' Baldwin's Rancho Santa Anita as a location, but needed increased financial backing. In January 1934 Charles Strub, in partnership with Hollywood filmmaker Hal Roach and a group of investors, formed the Los Angeles Turf Club. Created for the purpose of building the first race track in California, they opened Santa Anita Park in Arcadia on Christmas Day, 1934. He introduced a number of significant innovations to American racing. The innovations he instituted for all races included finish line cameras to verify race results, electronic timing, and electronic starting gates. The improvements were later adopted by the rest of racing industry.