Los Alamitos offering $1 million bonus for stakes sweep

Los Alamitos will pay a $1 million bonus to the owner of a 3-year-old who wins the track’s $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby in July and goes on to win the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 24 and the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

The bonus is known as the $1 million Bolton Challenge and is being conducted in partnership with Bolton and Co., a Los Angeles-based insurance firm. The Los Alamitos Derby is for 3-year-olds, and the Pacific Classic and BC Classic are open to older horses.

The $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby will be run over 1 1/8 miles on July 5. The Grade 2 race takes the place of the Swaps Stakes, which was run in early July in past years at Hollywood Park. The Los Alamitos Derby is the main race of a two-week Thoroughbred meeting at Los Alamitos in early July.

The track picked up those racing dates, and three weeks in December, following the closure of Hollywood Park last year. In addition, Los Alamitos and the Los Angeles County Fair reached an agreement to move the racing dates of the Los Angeles County Fair to Los Alamitos in September, pending legislative and regulatory approval.