Scheduled break could boost Los Alamitos field sizes
Next month, an unprecedented 11-day gap is scheduled between the end of the Los Alamitos summer meeting, which runs from Friday through July 5, and the start of the Del Mar summer season on July 16.
The break was designed by California racing officials as a way to boost field size for the start of the Del Mar meeting. Los Alamitos could gain from the calendar as well, as the only track offering daytime opportunities for Thoroughbreds in Southern California in coming weeks.
In past years, Los Alamitos has closed it summer meeting on a Sunday followed by the start of the Del Mar meeting days later, on a Thursday or Friday.
This year, Del Mar does not open its stable area for training until early July, after the conclusion of the Los Alamitos meeting. In the past, stables were in the midst of relocating to Del Mar in the final days of the Los Alamitos summer meeting.
With a majority of stables still based at Santa Anita in the next few weeks, Los Alamitos could gain additional runners. Every runner helps Los Alamitos, which only offers dirt racing and has been unable to consistently draw large fields.
“This is the first year we’ve had a summer meeting when horses aren’t leaving when we’re running our second week,” racing secretary Bob Moreno said Wednesday. “That might help me a little bit.”
Moreno said that since Los Alamitos began running daytime Thoroughbred meetings in 2014, following the closure of Hollywood Park in 2013, just one horse was shipped to Del Mar and then sent back to Los Alamitos to race.
Friday’s eight-race program drew 60 entrants before scratches. The two-week season runs on a Friday-through-Sunday basis this week and for four days from July 2-5 on the final week.
Interest also could be be boosted by slightly higher purses thanks to strong handle figures at the track’s December meeting last year. While Del Mar has a higher purse structure, that track also may have races that are more competitive in many categories offered at both venues.
Los Alamitos averaged 8.7 runners per race during its 2020 December meeting, helped by participation from owners and trainers with horses based at Golden Gate Fields. At the time, Golden Gate Fields was closed for racing because of a coronavirus outbreak among stable personnel. The corresponding Los Alamitos December meeting in 2019 averaged 6.97 runners per race.
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The 2020 summer meeting at Los Alamitos averaged 7.09 runners per race compared to 6.49 runners at the 2019 summer meeting.
The upcoming meeting has three stakes, beginning with Saturday’s $100,000 Bertrando Stakes for California-bred milers. The Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles is scheduled for July 3, while the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes will be run July 5. The $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlong is the richest race of the brief meeting.