Los Alamitos offers barns for refuge

The owner of Los Alamitos Race Course, Ed Allred, and trainers headed by Denny Ekins are working together to provide safe shelter for horses evacuated from the fires that were raging throughout Southern California this week.

Temporary barns with 180 stalls were set up for the Los Alamitos equine sale on Oct. 6-7 and were being dismantled earlier this week. When the magnitude of the fires became evident, the barns were left intact for evacuated horses and were ready for horses as of Wednesday morning. Los Alamitos, in northern Orange County, is a central location for fire evacuees in Orange, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties.

Ekins and other trainers will use their trucks and trailers to move any horses.

"If anybody needs their horses moved, we're ready to go," Ekins said. "Dr. Allred is providing the barns, hay, grain, and bedding free of charge."

Ekins can be reached on his cell phone at 714-299-8823, or his home phone at 714-901-1265.