Expect smaller fields for most of two-week meet

CYPRESS, Calif. – The first three days of the two-week Los Alamitos summer meeting Thursday through Saturday had strong entries, with an average of 8.88 entrants per race.

It is not expected to last. Racing secretary Bob Moreno said on Thursday that he expects a decline for Sunday’s program and into the second and final week of the meeting July 9-12.

“It wasn’t much different last year,” Moreno said. “The longer we go into this, and the closer we get to Del Mar, it will be smaller. We’ll be a little lighter from now on.”

The Del Mar summer meeting begins July 16.

Sunday’s entries at Los Alamitos were being compiled Thursday morning. While there were numerous instances of races with 10 or more runners from Thursday through Saturday, Moreno said there might be only one such field Sunday.

The current trend mirrors the 2014 summer meeting, the first Thoroughbred meet at Los Alamitos following the closure of Hollywood Park in 2013. In 2014, the first day of the Los Alamitos summer meeting had an average of 8.34 runners per race. After three days, the figure fell to 7.76 runners. During the second of the two weeks, fields averaged 6.55 runners per race. For the entire meeting, the average was 6.99 runners.

Larger fields make races more attractive to bettors, with greater options for all bets, particularly exotic wagers such as the pick four or superfecta.

Moreno is hoping the figures will be higher this year but said the presence of Del Mar makes that difficult. In the next 10 days, many Southern California stables will begin transferring horses to the San Diego County track. Del Mar has a higher purse structure than Los Alamitos and is considered a destination for horse owners who want to start horses at the popular meeting.

Moreno said the summer meeting at Los Alamitos is unique in that the end of the season tails off compared with the September and December meetings here.

“This is the only meeting I’ve been involved with that at the end of the meeting, you don’t get a lot of numbers,” he said. “The fall and winter meet, we get more numbers. We’ll get by.”