Los Alamitos winter meeting gains Bayakoa Stakes, loses overnight money

The decision to run the Grade 2 Bayakoa Stakes on Sunday at Los Alamitos has resulted in less purse money for overnight races for the entire three-week meeting, which begins Thursday and runs through Dec. 17.

The Bayakoa was in danger of not being run this year, but track officials and the Thoroughbred Owners of California agreed to hold the $200,000 race for fillies and mares at the winter meeting. To finance the Bayakoa, purses for some overnight races were reduced from the track’s winter meeting last December.

For example, maiden special weight races have been cut from $45,000 to $40,000; a first-condition allowance race with an optional claiming level of $20,000 has been reduced by $1,000 to $45,000; and a maiden race for $40,000 to $50,000 claimers has been cut by $2,000 to $21,000.

Not all purse levels were affected. Racing secretary Bob Moreno said claiming races ranging in value from $6,250 to $16,000 are the same as last year.

“Those are my bread-and-butter races,” he said. “Those guys make my meet, to be honest.”

There is no guarantee the Bayakoa Stakes will be run. Los Alamitos and the TOC agreed that the race must draw six entrants, which seemed likely as of Sunday, Moreno said.

This will be the second time Los Alamitos has hosted the Bayakoa. The race was previously run at Hollywood Park, which closed in 2013. Los Alamitos ran the Bayakoa in 2014, but the race was not held in 2015. The Bayakoa Stakes was held at Del Mar last year.

The 1 1/16-mile Bayakoa is one of three graded stakes at the 12-day winter meeting. There are two stakes for California-bred 2-year-olds.

The richest races of the meeting are the Starlet Stakes and the Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity, which are worth $300,000 each. The Starlet, for 2-year-old fillies, and the CashCall Futurity, for 2-year-olds, both will be run at 1 1/16 miles Dec. 9.

Last year, Abel Tasman won the Starlet. She has since emerged as the leading candidate for the champion 3-year-old filly title of 2017. Mastery won the Los Alamitos Futurity. He won his only start this year, the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita in March, and was injured in the race and subsequently retired.

Racing during the Los Alamitos meet will be held Thursdays through Sundays. First post is 1 p.m. Pacific on weekdays and 12:30 p.m. on weekends.

The 2016 winter meeting was run over two weeks and had an average field size of 7.89 starters per race, the highest since Los Alamitos began daytime Thoroughbred racing in 2014 after the closure of Hollywood Park.

Moreno said he is hoping for a similar figure this meet.

“It will be tougher because it’s a three-week meeting,” he said. “The first week and the third will be good. We could struggle in the second week.”