Futurity, Starlet highlight Los Alamitos stakes

Los Alamitos will host five stakes, including two Grade 1 races for juveniles, during its three-week December meeting. All five stakes are worth $200,000 or more.

The December meeting will run 12 racing days from Dec. 4-21, taking the dates previously held by Hollywood Park, which closed at the end of 2013. All five of the stakes at the December meeting were previously run at Hollywood Park, notably the $350,000 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on Dec. 13 and the $500,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (formerly the CashCall Futurity) for 2-year-olds on Dec. 20. Both races are run over 1 1/16 miles.

Take Charge Brandi, the upset winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita last Saturday, is among the nominees for the Starlet.

There are two seven-furlong races for California-bred 2-year-olds – the Soviet Problem Stakes for fillies and the King Glorious Stakes for both sexes – which will be run on consecutive Sundays, Dec. 7 and 14.

In 2013, California Chrome won the King Glorious Stakes at Hollywood Park, the first of six consecutive stakes wins that included the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

The first graded stakes of the meeting is the $200,000 Bayakoa Stakes for fillies and mares over 1 1/16 miles. A Grade 2 race, the Bayakoa will be run Dec. 6.

Racing at Los Alamitos in December will be held Thursdays through Sundays. This will be the track’s third Thoroughbred meeting of the year, preceded by brief seasons in July and September.