Field size the focus as Los Alamitos opens summer meet

With an earlier post time and one more week of racing than last summer, Los Alamitos launches its three-week summer meeting Thursday, a 12-day season through July 15 that bridges the Santa Anita meeting that ended Sunday with the Del Mar summer meeting that opens July 18.

The Los Alamitos summer meeting is highlighted by two graded stakes – the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes for female sprinters July 7 and the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby on July 14.

First post time has been pushed forward an hour, to 1 p.m. Pacific, with eight- or nine-race programs expected on weekdays and weekends, a change from Santa Anita, which ran 12- and 11-race programs last Saturday and Sunday.

Racing will be held on a Thursday-through-Sunday basis this week and from July 12-15. Next week, there is racing on July 4, but no racing on July 5 before three days of racing from July 6-8.

Los Alamitos has eight weeks of daytime Thoroughbred racing annually. Later this year, the track will have a three-week meeting in September, run as the Los Angeles County Fair, and two weeks of racing in December. Last year, the track had two weeks of racing in July and three weeks in December.

While some stables are awaiting the start of Del Mar next month, others will focus on Los Alamitos. Los Alamitos does not have a turf course and offers ample opportunities for sprinters in lower-level claimers on dirt.

Finding a sufficient number of runners for competitive racing is the primary task facing racing secretary Bob Moreno, who has held the position at Los Alamitos since the track was expanded to accommodate Thoroughbred racing on a one-mile oval in 2014 following the closure of Hollywood Park the previous year.

Los Alamitos had mixed results with average field sizes last year. The track’s December meeting averaged 7.54 runners per race, but the two-week July meeting averaged 6.82 runners, the lowest for a summer meeting. The 2015 summer meeting averaged 7.47 runners. Moreno and his staff hope to replicate that figure following a Santa Anita meeting that carded more races this year.

“This year, it could be tougher than usual with what’s going on [at Santa Anita] and Del Mar coming up,” he said.

By comparison, Santa Anita averaged 7.38 runners in dirt races at its six-month meeting that ended Sunday.

The most significant change to the betting menu is an increase in the minimum bet in the pick four from 50 cents to $1. The bet is offered on the second through fifth races and the final four races. The track’s evening meeting has a $1 minimum in the pick four and has seen handle figures grow remarkably in recent months.

The Los Alamitos pick six does not have a single-ticket jackpot provision, meaning 70 percent of the net pool is paid to tickets with six winners, or into a carryover, while the remaining 30 percent comprises the consolation pool.