Five stakes at Los Alamitos spring meeting

Los Alamitos will run five stakes, including two graded stakes for sprinters, during its three-week spring Thoroughbred meeting from April 14 to May 1.

The 12-day season is the first of three Thoroughbred meetings at Los Alamitos this year, followed by brief meetings in September and December. This is the first year that Los Alamitos has run an April meeting. The track’s first meetings of 2014 and 2015 were held in July.

The spring meeting is led by the $200,000 Great Lady M Stakes, a Grade 2 for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs on April 23. The $100,000 Los Angeles Stakes, a Grade 3 at 5 1/2 furlongs, will be run April 17. The Los Angeles Stakes was run at Hollywood Park until its closure in 2013 and at Santa Anita in 2014 and 2015.

The spring’s final stakes is the $150,000 California Chrome Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on April 30, three weeks after the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 9.

The Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby was the primary stakes of the July meetings in recent years, worth $500,000 in 2014 and $350,000 last year. The race is expected to be run at the Los Alamitos September meeting this year, according to racing secretary Bob Moreno.