Los Alamitos tentatively adds day to Thoroughbred meet

Los Alamitos has added a day of racing on Thursday, July 2, to its two-week Thoroughbred meeting from June 26 to July 5, although track officials said Wednesday that the plan is tentative.

Racing will be held on a Friday-through-Sunday basis from June 26-28, followed by four days of racing on the final week.

“We’ll try and see what happens,” track vice president Jack Liebau said.

:: To stay up to date, follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

There is concern over the available number of horses. Last year, the track’s brief summer meeting averaged 6.49 runners per race compared to 6.9 runners at the corresponding meeting in 2018.

The current Santa Anita meeting has averaged 7.51 runners since opening day in late December. More recent figures are not as encouraging. The track lost 21 days of racing from late March to mid-May when it was ordered shut by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Since Santa Anita reopened on May 15, the track has averaged 8.01 runners per race through Sunday, but the average slipped to 7.06 runners for a two-week period from May 29 through Sunday.

:: Click to learn about our DRF's Free Past Performance program.

Santa Anita concludes its winter-spring meeting on June 21.

The first stakes of the Los Alamitos summer meeting is the $100,000 Soi Phet Stakes for California-bred milers on June 27. The race could draw Grinning Tiger, who won the Crystal Water Stakes at a mile on turf on Saturday at Santa Anita in a 92-1 upset.

Grinning Tiger won an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option last September at Los Alamitos.

“He likes Los Al, and the turf horses like Los Al,” trainer Anthony Saavedra said last weekend.