It was actually a pretty good cheetah exhibit back in the day when the grass was high and the cheetahs skulked around. A cheetah stalked my wife (girlfriend at the time) once and leaped out towards her as we walked along the exhibit. She said that it made her feel like a Thompson's gazelle.
I have my Sacramento Zoo map from 2011 (when I visited) and I recently obtained one from around 1994. It is interesting to note that the Australian Outback area was indeed a cheetah exhibit at that time, and nearby there was also a long row of cages titled Small Cats as well as another section called Large Cats and both of those areas are now long gone. Where the current giraffe exhibit is there was a few separate enclosures for these 4 species: giraffe, hippo, wallaroo and emu. Lions and tigers still were in their old grottoes (much like now) but instead of the lineup in 2011 of giant anteater, spotted hyena and snow leopard there were bears in 1994.
