Large fields for Sunday's card

CYPRESS, Calif. – Sunday’s nine-race program drew 83 runners for nine races, the most of any card in the first week of the Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos. The card averages 9.2 runners per race.

The six maiden races on the card drew 56 runners. A $30,000 claiming race for maidens was divided into two 10-horse divisions, while a $20,000 claiming race for maidens was divided into two nine-horse races. There also are two maiden special weight races, one for 3-year-olds and up (eight entrants) and one for statebred 2-year-old fillies (10 entrants).

“Any kind of winners’ race didn’t have that many [entries],” racing secretary Bob Moreno said.

There was an average of 7.3 runners per race on Thursday’s first day of the meeting. Friday’s eight-race program had 59 runners on the card, while Saturday’s nine-race program had 61.

The September 2016 meeting averaged 7.04 runners per race. Generally, the larger the field the more money that is bet on the race.

The three-week meeting runs through Sept. 24 and is followed by the Santa Anita autumn meeting on Sept. 29.

“When we have a three-week meeting, the first week is okay, the second week you struggle, and the third week is okay,” Moreno said.

Los Alamitos does not have a turf course, which keeps hundreds of horses on the circuit in the barn.