No agreement on California dates for 2016

CYPRESS, Calif. - The 2016 Thoroughbred racing calendar in Southern California could look similar to the last two years, or could include changes as significant as springtime meetings at Del Mar and Los Alamitos, a two-month autumn meeting at Santa Anita, or racing at Los Alamitos until Christmas Eve.

Executives with Southern California racetracks and horsemen’s organizations discussed racing dates publicly for the first time at a 70-minute hearing on Wednesday at Los Alamitos, speaking before the California Horse Racing Board’s race dates and stabling oversight committee.

No resolution on racing dates was reached. The matter is scheduled to be discussed by the full racing board at its monthly meeting at Los Alamitos on Thursday.

The racing board will have plenty of options to review, but is not likely to reach a final decision on Thursday. Further meetings between track officials and the race dates committee are likely before the board votes on 2016 racing dates later this year.

Wednesday, Santa Anita and Del Mar presented a joint proposal that closely mirrors the last two seasons.

Their proposed schedule has Santa Anita conducting racing from Dec. 26 to June 30, and Sept. 29 to Nov. 6. The Breeders’ Cup races will be held at Santa Anita on Nov. 4-5, 2016.

Under that proposal, Los Alamitos would race from July 1-11, Sept. 8-25, and Dec. 8-18. The Los Alamitos December meeting would cover two weeks of racing, and not the three weeks held in December 2014. A three-week meeting is scheduled at Los Alamitos this December. Del Mar would race from July 13 to Sept. 5 and from Nov. 10 to Dec. 4 in 2016 under that plan.

Los Alamitos presented a 2016 schedule with two four-week racing dates in July and September for the Orange County track. Track officials argued that an existing two-week meeting in July is difficult to market and that a four-week meeting would be easier to advertise. Track owner Ed Allred later amended the calendar and said he would consider a December meeting that runs through Dec. 24.

The California Thoroughbred Trainers presented a much different plan, calling for a three-week meeting at Los Alamitos in April 2016, a four-week summer meeting there from mid-June to mid-July, and a two-month late summer and autumn meeting at Santa Anita. The CTT plan had racing ending for the year on Dec. 4, with the possibility of no racing until the start of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26, 2016, or a brief December meeting at Los Alamitos ending on Dec. 18.

The CTT called for a break in the calendar at Santa Anita in the first half of the year to allow the turf course to rest and for refurbishments to the main track, if needed. Santa Anita would be compensated for missing springtime dates by hosting racing in September.

The Thoroughbred Owners of California presented two calendars, depending on whether ongoing negotiations with Santa Anita regarding stabling and vanning agreement reach a resolution. If an agreement is reached, the TOC has a proposed calendar that would include one less week of racing at the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting, resulting in a three-week summer meeting at Los Alamitos from June 23 to July 10, and a two-week meeting at Los Alamitos in December, ending on Dec. 18.

If an agreement is not reached on stabling and vanning, the TOC has a proposed radically different calendar that would give additional dates to Del Mar and Los Alamitos, including a six-week spring meeting at Del Mar from April 14 to May 22, a span that includes the lucrative simulcast of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes; and a similar three-week summer season at Los Alamitos presented in their other proposal.

TOC president Joe Morris said Los Alamitos deserves another week in June for its commitment to year-round stabling of Thoroughbreds. Santa Anita officials indicated they did not want to relinquish a week of racing.

At the same time, TOC officials said they were against racing in December through Christmas Eve in an effort to give the circuit a brief break before the start of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26. Allred said that by running until Christmas Eve Los Alamitos could recover part of a racing week it would otherwise lose at a time of year when the track could draw customers for Christmas parties.

The issue of off-track stabling and vanning costs has become a concern in recent years. The stabling and vanning fund has a $4 million deficit from recent years, but is expected to show a surplus of as much as $400,000 this year.

Officials have been trying to reach a long-term agreement with Los Alamitos for off-track stabling of Thoroughbreds following the closure of Hollywood Park’s barn area in January 2014. A two-year agreement with Los Alamitos ends this year.