Two-year-old Quarter Horse races are the first of the season

Friday’s seven-race program includes two maiden special weight races for 2-year-olds at 220 yards, the first juvenile Quarter Horse races of the season. Typically, 2-year-old maiden races begin in April, but the track has sustained a late winter shortage of race-ready horses, an annual occurrence.

Through Sunday, the track has averaged 5.97 runners per race since opening day on Dec. 26 compared to 6 runners per race during a similar time in the 2019-20 meeting.

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Watch Out, a 2-year-old half-brother to 2019 Quarter Horse World Champion He Looks Hot, starts in the fourth race for owner and breeder Ed Allred, who owns Los Alamitos, and trainer Scott Willoughby. Watch Out is by the first-year stallion Fly Thru the Fire.

Allred’s New and Better, trained by James Glenn Jr., will attract attention in the second division, the sixth race, after a quick 220-yard workout from the gate in 12.5 seconds on March 4.

Friday’s final race is the $20,000 Cypress Speed Stakes at 110 yards, a distance so short that any reasonable assessment of the nine-horse field is difficult. The Best Feeling, second in a stakes at the same distance on Dec. 27, will be among the favorites from a rail draw.