Los Alamitos races already tough to fill

CYPRESS, Calif. – Los Alamitos will run seven races on Friday, one fewer than expected, and could have race cards of similar size before the meeting ends on July 14.

The track struggled to draw entries for Friday’s program, which has three five-horse fields, three six-horse fields and one race with 10 entrants. Racing secretary Bob Moreno said before the meeting began on June 29 that field size would be an issue that could affect the number of races run per day.

“It happened a little earlier than I thought it would,” Moreno said.

Los Alamitos does not have a turf course, which often draw larger fields. Some owners and trainers are waiting to start horses at the Del Mar summer meeting which begins July 17 and has higher purses than Los Alamitos. Moreno warned entries could be a struggle in the next week.

“We’re getting close to Del Mar,” he said. “As we go along, horses aren’t available to run back and they’re going to start shipping to Del Mar.”

Los Alamitos has scheduled four-day racing weeks this week and July 11-14, the first four-day weeks in Southern California since April 4-7. Santa Anita canceled racing on nine Thursdays during its spring-summer meeting from mid-April to June 23 out of concern of a shortage of race-ready horses.