Los Alamitos begins County Fair meet with focus on field size

The three-week Los Angeles County Fair meeting that opens Thursday at Los Alamitos is typically the best supported of the track’s three daytime Thoroughbred meetings each year.

Since 2014, when Los Alamitos began running brief daytime meetings following the closing of Hollywood Park in 2013, the County Fair meeting has accounted for two of the three meetings with the largest average field sizes.

Larger fields make for more competitive races, which attracts bettors’ attention.

Los Alamitos struggles without a turf course, an integral part of the Del Mar and Santa Anita programs, but offers lower-level Thoroughbred races for horses that may not be competitive at other venues.

The 2017 County Fair meeting averaged 6.93 runners per race, slightly better than the 6.9 runners per race at the three-week summer meeting earlier this year. In 2014, the County Fair meeting averaged 7.73 runners per race. The track’s best result was 7.9 runners at the 2016 fall meeting.

“Usually this meet is better than the summer meet, and I hope it continues that way,” racing secretary Robert Moreno said over the weekend.

Moreno said some horses that run in the first week of racing, through Sunday, may start again in the final week of the meeting from Sept. 20-23.

“The second week is usually a little tougher and the third week they run back,” he said.

A major difference from the summer meeting is the absence of a looming Del Mar summer meeting. Horses have been shipped from Del Mar to stables at Los Alamitos and Santa Anita in recent days.

“The main thing is everyone is home,” Moreno said. “They’re not going anywhere.”