Los Alamitos plans three summer stakes

Led by the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares, Los Alamitos has three stakes scheduled for its nine-day Los Angeles County Fair summer meeting from June 20 to July 6.

The $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on July 5 is the richest race of the brief season. There are two $100,000 races on the first two Saturdays, the Bertrando Stakes for California-breds at a mile on June 21 and Los Alamitos Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on June 28. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has won the Los Alamitos Derby in each of the last eight years.

The stakes schedule for the forthcoming summer meeting has the same purse values as the 2024 summer season. Racing will be conducted on a Friday through Sunday basis. The Los Alamitos meeting is preceded by the current Santa Anita spring meeting, which ends on June 15, and followed by the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins on July 18.

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Last month, Los Alamitos officials said overnight purses for the forthcoming summer meeting will be increased. A maiden race will be worth $45,000, an increase of $4,000 from last summer and $6,000 higher than the track’s most recent meeting in December. Many purse levels at the forthcoming summer meeting at Los Alamitos are equal to the track’s 2023 summer meeting.

The added prize money is available from betting revenue through account wagering and simulcast locations throughout the state that has been consolidated and directed to Southern California tracks and purse accounts. Previously, part of that money was devoted to Northern California racing. No racing has been held in Northern California since December, and is none is scheduled.

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