Los Alamitos Derby purse raised; race will offer Kentucky Derby points

The purse for the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles on July 4 has been raised by $50,000, to $150,000, at the discretion of management.

Track vice president Jack Liebau said on Wednesday that Los Alamitos has been told the race will have a role in the points system of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Sept. 5. The Kentucky Derby was postponed from May 2 because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Churchill Downs officials have not announced the new points structure for the Kentucky Derby.

The 2019 Los Alamitos Derby was worth $150,000 when it was won by Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old male of 2018. When Los Alamitos announced the stakes schedule for its two-week summer meeting last month, the Los Alamitos Derby had an advertised purse of $100,000.

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“Dr. Allred thought it would be an important race and he thought he would raise the purse $50,000,” Liebau said in reference to track owner Ed Allred. “That’s how it got done.”

The Los Alamitos summer meeting runs on a Friday-through-Sunday basis from June 26 to July 5.

The richest race of the brief season is the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes, a $200,000 race for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.