SoCal officials discuss disputed September racing dates

Officials with Los Alamitos and Santa Anita held discussions Friday regarding a disputed weekend of racing dates in late September and terms for long-term negotiations for year-round stabling at Los Alamitos.

Keith Brackpool, chairman of Los Alamitos, and Jack Liebau, a consultant for Los Alamitos, met at Santa Anita but did not reach a resolution on either issue, both said late Friday afternoon.

The tracks are seeking to race the weekend of Sept. 26-27. Santa Anita wants the dates for the start of its autumn meeting, which runs through Oct. 25.

Los Alamitos begins the September meeting it runs on behalf of the Los Angeles County Fair on Sept. 10 and wants to run through Sept. 27. Currently, the Los Alamitos meeting is scheduled to end Sept. 25, according to California Horse Racing Board documents.

In the absence of an agreement between the two parties, the issue of where racing will be conducted Sept. 26 and 27 is expected to be resolved at the racing board meeting June 25 at Los Alamitos.

The subject was scheduled to be resolved at racing board meetings in April and May but postponed to allow further negotiations between parties. The issue needs a resolution this month since the tracks are expected to present license applications for the respective race meetings to the racing board at its monthly meeting July 17 at Del Mar.

“We’re having good productive discussions,” Brackpool said Friday. “I think we’ve made progress.”

Liebau, the former president of Hollywood Park, declined to elaborate on the discussions.

“Comments would be premature,” said Liebau.

Liebau said further discussions were possible “maybe next week.”

The calendar for September was finalized in autumn 2013 when Southern California racing executives hoped the Breeders’ Cup championship races would be held Oct. 30-31 this year at Santa Anita.

Breeders’ Cup officials later awarded the championship races to Keeneland.When the racing board met in 2013 to finalize racing dates in 2015, Los Angeles County Fair officials asked the board for the right to race Sept. 26-27 if the Breeders’ Cup was held the first weekend of November. At a racing board meeting in September 2013, Fairplex Park chief financial officer Mike Seder asked the racing board that the Los Angeles County Fair receive “an economic consideration to make us whole for giving up those dates.”

Traditionally, Los Angeles County Fair meetings have been held over three consecutive weekends. Under the current plan, the meeting would be held over two weekends and include two days of racing weekdays in the final week.

Brackpool said the starting date of the Santa Anita meeting “is to be determined at this stage.”

On Thursday, racing board chairman Chuck Winner said he is hopeful a resolution can be presented to the racing board June 25 and that the board is not left to decide the issue.

“That’s the proper way, for them to work it out,” he said. “I’m hopeful they’ll work out some solution.”

Joe Morris, the president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, said Thursday his organization supports racing Sept. 26-27 at Santa Anita but said the Los Angeles County Fair deserves “some financial consideration.”

By racing on the weekend of Sept. 26-27, Santa Anita would conduct a series of stakes that are prep races for the Breeders’ Cup.

“We think it should go to Santa Anita,” Morris said. “We need to make sure the Breeders’ Cup preps are run for California horses.”

Morris warned that with Santa Anita not hosting the Breeders’ Cup or operating a live meeting when Breeders’ Cup races are simulcast, the track’s autumn meeting will not have purses as valuable as recent years.

“We won’t be able to run the same stakes, and we may have to reduce purses,” he said. “It’s an apples and oranges scenario.”

By comparison, Del Mar may have a purse schedule greater than its 2014 autumn meeting because that track will be open to host the lucrative Breeders’ Cup simulcasts.

Brackpool and Liebau also discussed long-term stabling for Thoroughbreds at Los Alamitos. In 2013, Los Alamitos agreed to conduct year-round stabling for Thoroughbreds in 2014 and 2015, following the closure of Hollywood Park’s stable area in January 2014.

There was widespread concern in late 2013 about finding adequate stabling in Southern California with the closure of Hollywood Park. Santa Anita has the capacity for 1,900 horses. There were horses based at Fairplex Park in 2014 and until February of this year, when that track closed its barn area. In addition, there is the capacity for 500 horses at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in northern San Diego County and 400 at Galway Downs, near Temecula.

Los Alamitos has the capacity for 800 Thoroughbreds, in addition to a similar number of Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds that run at the track at its year-round evening meeting. Thoroughbred trainers are seeking a continuation of year-round stabling at Los Alamitos to allow horses to be based closer to Santa Anita.

“We’re working on stabling, and we think it’s critical,” Morris said.