Los Alamitos Futurity, Starlet are highlights of December meet

The last Grade 1 races of the year for 2-year-olds highlight the December meeting at Los Alamitos, a, three-week, 12-day run that begins Dec. 3 and closes Dec. 20.

The $350,000 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 19 is the richest race of the meet and proved significant in its first running at Los Alamitos last year, with Dortmund defeating Firing Line and Mr. Z. in a thriller. All went on to be important 3-year-olds in 2015.

The Los Alamitos Starlet, for fillies, was even more significant last year, for the win by Take Charge Brandi secured her the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly. This year’s Eclipse Award is already sewn up by the unbeaten Songbird, who will pass the Starlet, affording another filly the opportunity to win a Grade 1 on this circuit. The Starlet, worth $300,000, will be run Dec. 12.

Both the Futurity and the Starlet are at 1 1/16 miles. Both stakes through 2013 were run at Hollywood Park, which closed that year.

A notable absence from the schedule, released Thursday, is the Bayakoa Stakes, a Grade 2, $200,000 race for older females run previously at Hollywood Park and again last year at Los Alamitos. With the Bayakoa gone from the schedule, there are now no graded stakes going two turns on dirt for older females on this circuit for more than 3 1/2 months, from the Zenyatta at Santa Anita on Sept. 26 until the La Canada at Santa Anita on Jan. 16.