Los Alamitos Special a new highlight for September meet

After Monday’s closing day of the Del Mar summer meeting, daytime Thoroughbred racing resumes in Southern California with Thursday’s opening day of the Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos.

The 12-day season runs through Sept. 23 on a Thursday-through-Sunday basis.

The first weekend is highlighted by two $75,000 races on Sept. 8 – the Beverly Lewis Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs and the E.B. Johnston Stakes for California-bred milers. Soi Phet, who won the 2017 Johnston Stakes, and Edwards Going Left, the winner of the California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in January, were among the early nominations to the E.B. Johnston.

The track is introducing a new stakes this year – the $100,000 Los Alamitos Special at 1 1/4 miles on Sept. 16. The race is restricted to horses who have not won a stakes worth $50,000 or more to the winner at a mile or longer.