Northern California shippers help boost field size, handle at Los Angeles County Fair meet

Los Alamitos completed its three-week Los Angeles County Fair meeting on Sunday with a 20 percent gain in average all-sources handle compared to similar racing days at a two-week meeting in December 2019, the track announced in a statement.

Los Alamitos did not release extensive handle data for the 11-day season. The 2019 December meeting had seven days of racing.

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This year’s meeting was held without spectators because of the pandemic.

Handle was boosted greatly by a substantial increase in average field size, from 6.97 runners per race at the 2019 meeting to 8.71 this year. The increase in runners was largely the result of the closure of Golden Gate Fields since mid-November following a coronavirus outbreak in the stable area.

Trainers based at Golden Gate Fields sent horses to race at Los Alamitos, although the trainers and their stable employees were not permitted to attend because of the pandemic. Local trainers looked after the horses for races.

Vanning fees for those horses were paid by a fund managed by racetracks and horsemen’s organizations that provides similar services in Southern California. Golden Gate has not announced when racing will resume.

“Without their help, the meet would not have been as successful and the owners of the shippers from Northern California wouldn’t have had the opportunity to race,” Los Alamitos vice president Jack Liebau said in a statement.

Los Alamitos had a track-record pick six pool of $1,809,485 on Friday, with bettors in pursuit of a five-day carryover of $423,178. The pick six paid $228,816 to six ticketholders on Friday. The track has a standard $2 pick six and does not offer the bet with the jackpot provisions used at many other venues.

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Bob Baffert, Doug O’Neill, and Jonathan Wong shared the training title with five wins each. Baffert swept the two graded stakes for 2-year-olds, winning the Starlet Stakes with Varda on Dec. 5 and Saturday’s Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity with Spielberg. Baffert has won all seven runnings of the Los Alamitos Futurity since the track assumed December Thoroughbred racing dates in 2014 after the closure of Hollywood Park the preceding year.

Wong has a small stable in Southern California, but has the bulk of his stable at Golden Gate Fields.

Abel Cedillo led all riders with 13 wins, edging Juan Hernandez, who had 12 wins. Apprentice jockey Jessica Pyfer was third with 11 wins.

Santa Anita begins its six-month winter-spring meeting on Saturday. Los Alamitos will have the first of three meetings in 2021 from June 24 to July 4.