Los Alamitos cancels Champion of Champions

Los Alamitos has canceled this year’s running of the prestigious Champion of Champions race for older Quarter Horses, the track announced in a press release on Saturday, with track owner Ed Allred citing concerns of clenbuterol testing as the cause.

“The major Quarter Horse tracks and the American Quarter Horse Association need to standardize and enforce regulations prohibiting clenbuterol and its analogues,” Allred said in the press release.

On his Twitter feed, Ed Burgart, the track announcer and linemaker at Los Alamitos, said the track has a “zero clenbuterol tolerance.”

“Look for other major QH tracks to follow the Los Al lead,” Burgart wrote. “Los Al wants to protect the horse and the bettor.”

The Champion of Champions was scheduled for Dec. 13. It was first run in 1972. The field is comprised of winners of major races at tracks throughout the country, including Los Alamitos.

The track also announced that the Z Wayne Griffin Directors Trials will not be run, but a $50,000 Z Wayne Griffin Invitational for 3-year-olds and up at 400 yards will be carded on Nov. 16.

On Dec. 13, the date of the canceled Champion of Champions, a $100,000-added Christmas Invitational will be featured at 400 yards for 3-year-olds and up.

Los Alamitos Race will resume the Champion of Champions in 2015 with a purse of at least $600,000, the release said.