Soi Phet the star of Los Alamitos opener

CYPRESS, Calif. - Summer seems to be the ideal season for Soi Phet, who won Thursday’s $101,000 Bertrando Stakes for California-breds on the opening day of the Los Alamitos Thoroughbred meeting.

Last summer, after being claimed for $16,000, Soi Phet won four consecutive races at Hollywood Park and Del Mar.

Thursday’s Bertrando Stakes was Soi Phet’s second consecutive win. He won a starter handicap at Santa Anita on June 8 in his previous start. Soi Phet will run next in the $200,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 24, trainer Leonard Powell said.

Soi Phet won the first stakes of his career in the one-mile Bertrando Stakes. Ridden by Kent Desormeaux, Soi Phet ($24) closed from fourth in a field of nine to win by 3 3/4 lengths over pacesetter Spirit Rules, a 9-1 shot.

“I had a lot of confidence in him,” Powell said. “I told Kent to cut the corner and see where he was at. He’s very versatile because he’s got so much class.”

Rock Me Baby finished third, followed by Better Bet, Tribal Jewel, Rousing Sermon, Leaving New York, Storm Fighter, and Tiz a Minister.

Soi Phet, a 6-year-old gelding by Tizbud, has won 7 of 27 starts and earned $352,436 in his career. Soi Phet has won 6 of 11 starts and earned $315,356 since being claimed. One of the losses was a third in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita last September, won by eventual Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man.

Soi Phet was timed in 1:34.50, the fastest of three one-mile races on Thursday. The program was the first of eight days of racing at Los Alamitos through July 13.

The opening day was attended by an enthusiastic crowd of 5,702, who contributed to an all-sources handle of $4,580,023. The ontrack handle was $531,609. Temperatures were in the low 80s, typical for this time of year for a track approximately five miles inland from the Pacific Ocean.

By comparison, Santa Anita drew an ontrack crowd of 2,645 the preceding Thursday, June 26, and had an ontrack handle of $622,064 and an all-sources handle of $5,406,091, according to figures released to the media. On the corresponding Thursday last year, which was July 4, Hollywood Park drew an ontrack crowd of 3,842, and had an ontrack handle of $991,951. The all-sources handle was $8,254,762, according to figures released to the media.

Thursday’s program at Los Alamitos was the first to use a track expanded by three furlongs last winter to nearly a mile in circumference. It was expanded to accommodate year-round training for Thoroughbreds and race meetings this month, and in September and December.

The track has a slight undulation on the backstretch and a small bend to the right before the final turn. The stretch, at 1,380 feet, is the longest in the nation. As a result, horses are several strides into the stretch before reaching the quarter pole.

Jockey Edwin Maldonado said the undulation on the backstretch and the slight bend to the right were easy to adapt to.

“You have plenty of time to come off the fence,” he said. “It’s not sharp.”

Races Thursday were won from the front, and from just off the pace.

The first race of the meeting, for $16,000 claimers over a mile, was won by I’m No Patsy, owned by Paul Reddam. Reddam, who owned 2012 Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another, resides near Los Alamitos. In the early 1990s, he was active in harness racing at Los Alamitos, and even leased Los Alamitos for a season to conduct a race meeting.

Jockey Elvis Trujillo won the first and eighth races, and was the only rider with two wins.

Los Alamitos took over racing dates traditionally allocated to Hollywood Park, which closed last December. The two-week meeting is being run between the conclusion of the Santa Anita meeting last Sunday and the start of the popular Del Mar meeting on July 17.

Track general manager Brad McKinzie said the attendance and handle figures were difficult to predict.

“We had no idea what to expect,” he said.

“The biggest challenge we face is to build awareness as a continuation of Santa Anita and a prelude to Del Mar. There are first-class riders, first-class trainers and first-class horses here. This is the first step.

“What we’re hoping for is a lot of people to give us a look. It’s our job to get them to come back.”