Vazquez, Pineda win titles at Los Alamitos

Jockey Ramon Vazquez won his fourth riding title of the year, and Milton Pineda won the first training title of his career at the six-day Los Alamitos December meeting that ended on Sunday.

Vazquez, 38, swept the three meetings at Los Alamitos this year, having won the most races at the summer and September meetings. He was also leading rider at the Santa Anita autumn meeting.

At the two-week meeting at Los Alamitos this month, Vazquez won 10 races, four more than Juan Hernandez and apprentice rider Armando Aguilar.

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Aguilar began riding earlier this year. Hernandez led all riders at the Santa Anita winter-spring and Del Mar summer meetings this year.

Pineda, 38, won five races this month at Los Alamitos, two more than Bob Baffert, Peter Miller, and Leandro Mora.

Mora is a longtime assistant to Doug O’Neill, who is in the final days of a month-long suspension for a medication violation earlier this year.

Pineda has a 20-horse stable based year-round at Los Alamitos.

Pineda has 10 wins at Los Alamitos for the year, equaling the accomplishments of Baffert and Miller. Pineda had a successful Santa Anita autumn meeting, winning with 3 of 10 runners.

The six-day December meeting averaged 7.37 runners in 54 races, compared to 6.78 runners in 63 races at the 2021 December meeting. Average field size this month was the highest of the year at Los Alamitos, compared to 6.32 in the summer and 6.65 in September.

The track record of 8.71 runners per race was set at the 2020 December meeting, a time when Golden Gate Fields was closed because of a coronavirus outbreak on its backstretch.

Los Alamitos did not release attendance and handle data.

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