Fall purse levels up from last year at Los Alamitos
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Overnight purses at the forthcoming Los Alamitos September meeting will be equal to the track’s summer meeting and higher than the corresponding September meeting in 2024.
Los Alamitos will have a six-day meeting over two three-day weekends on Sept. 12-14 and Sept. 19-21. The current Del Mar meeting ends on Sunday. The Santa Anita autumn meeting begins on Sept. 26.
At Los Alamitos, a maiden race will be worth $45,000, the same as during the summer and $5,000 higher than last September. A $12,500 claiming race for non-winners of two will be worth $21,000, a $2,000 increase from September 2024. A first-condition allowance race will be worth $47,000, a gain of $5,000 from last year.
Los Alamitos, Del Mar, and Santa Anita have had higher overnight purses since late February following the cessation of racing in Northern California last December. Revenue from account wagering and simulcast locations in Northern California has been consolidated to Southern California tracks and purse accounts at venues in that region. Previously, money from those sources were devoted to Northern California racing.
Earlier this year, the California Horse Racing Board rejected repeated proposals from Northern California promoters to resume racing in that part of the state. Some members of the board cited a desire to strengthen prize-money levels at Southern California tracks at the expense of any racing in the north.