Los Alamitos begins 10-day season with a hunt for horses

CYPRESS, Calif. – After six months at Santa Anita, the Southern California racing circuit has a change of scenery on Saturday with the launch of the 10-day Los Alamitos summer meeting.

While the venue has changed, the focus on equine safety will remain a constant the next three weeks – and during the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins on July 17.

At Los Alamitos, racing officials on Thursday expressed concern about finding sufficient runners to fill eight or nine races per day through the end of the meet on July 14. Last month, the track eliminated two days of racing – Thursday and Friday of this week – in an effort to ensure a four-day racing week on Fourth of July weekend will have sufficient entries.

Track officials said at the time that Fourth of July weekend is vital to the success of the brief season.

While many of the horses, jockeys and trainers will be the same as at Del Mar and Santa Anita, there are some differences. Los Alamitos does not have a turf course, which limits entries, and the track faces competition from the looming summer season at Del Mar, which has turf racing and higher purses.

Saturday’s nine-race program at Los Alamitos will have a maximum of 68 runners before scratches.

Racing secretary Bob Moreno said finding entries for the final weekend of the meeting “could be a little tough.”

The track’s 12-day summer meeting in 2018 averaged 6.9 runners per race, compared to 6.8 in 2017. One day at the 2018 meeting was canceled after two races because of excessive heat.

This summer for the first time, Los Alamitos is working in conjunction with a five-person panel of stewards and veterinarians who review the racing, medical, and veterinary records of all horses entered. The panel was launched earlier this month and was in place for the final six days of the Santa Anita meeting, which was plagued by 30 equine fatalities in training and racing that made international news.

The panel has been empowered to order the scratch of a horse deemed unfit to race. Moreno said two horses were excluded from Thursday’s program.

A similar panel will be in place during the Del Mar summer meeting.

Moreno is hoping that a slight increase in purses for claiming races ranging from $8,000 to $25,000 – the core of the Los Alamitos program – will help draw entries. Purses for many of those categories were increased by $1,000 a race.

For a starter allowance for $8,000 claiming horses, the purse was increased from $15,000 to $16,000. For $25,000 claimers who have not won two races, the purse was increased from $22,000 to $23,000.

Racing will start at 1 p.m. Pacific. There are stakes scheduled each Saturday, beginning with the $100,000 Bertrando Stakes for California-breds going a mile this Saturday. The richest race of the season is the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes, a $200,000 race for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs on July 6.