Los Alamitos, Del Mar to keep standard race weeks

ARCADIA, Calif. – As Santa Anita settles into a three-day racing week at least through June 2, the two tracks with summer race meetings in Southern California – Los Alamitos and Del Mar – are planning longer race weeks.

Santa Anita announced last week that it will eliminate five Thursdays starting this week and continuing through the first four Thursdays of May. The meeting concludes June 23, and the status of racing on the Thursdays of June 6, 13, and 20 will be made next month, officials said. There was no racing on Thursday, May 30, on the original schedule.

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Los Alamitos will have a three-week meeting from June 27 to July 14, and will race Thursdays through Sundays, track executive Jack Liebau said.

“The horse population is scary,” Liebau said. “We’ll hope for the best.”

Del Mar’s summer meetings will run five days a week, Wednesdays-Sundays, from July 17 to Sept. 2. The Labor Day closing program will conclude the only six-day racing week. Del Mar officials acknowledged they are concerned about the inventory of available runners in Southern California and are hopeful that strong purses and a series of financial incentives designed to lure horses from out of state will keep field sizes strong.

Some California-based trainers have shipped runners to Kentucky this spring to take advantage of strong purses in that state. The Santa Anita backstretch is well short of capacity.

“Our racing guys have been in touch with those trainers that have shipped out and have gotten a good indication that most will be coming back,” Del Mar president Josh Rubenstein said. “Certainly there are challenges out there right now. We remain optimistic on things.”

Santa Anita announced last week that it will raise purses $10,000 in all overnight races through June 2 as an incentive for people to race in California and to bring horses back to the state. The purse increase, which begins Friday, is jointly funded by the track’s parent company, The Stronach Group, and the Thoroughbred Owners of California, the official representative of owners in the state.