Representatives of Los Alamitos will make an official request for the
allocation of daytime Thoroughbred race dates for 2014 and 2015 at the next
meeting of the California Horse Racing Board on September 19.
Pending the approval by the California Horse Racing Board, Los Alamitos will
conduct five weeks of Thoroughbred racing each year highlighted by a lucrative
stakes schedule. It is anticipated that several historic Hollywood Park races
will be conducted as part of the meet. The five weeks of Thoroughbred racing in
2014 would be split between a two week summer meeting starting on July 3 and
ending on July 13 and a three-week winter meeting starting on December 4 through
December 21.
Thoroughbred racing would be conducted on a Thursday through Sunday basis. In
addition, Los Alamitos will continue to conduct Quarter Horse racing
concurrently with this new Thoroughbred meet. Los Alamitos is the home of
year-round Quarter Horse racing.
Plans call for the existing five-eighths mile oval at Los Alamitos to be
expanded to one mile and will include the widening of the turns to accommodate
Thoroughbred horsemen according to Ed Allred, the owner of Los Alamitos. The
engineering plans for track expansion have already started and it is expected to
be completed by January 2014. Construction will not affect racing of the current
Los Alamitos Quarter Horse meeting. There is no turf course planned as part of
this track expansion.
“I signed a contract with representatives of Santa Anita and the Thoroughbred
Owners of California on Wednesday and this deal will be presented to the CHRB at
its next meeting,” Allred said. “Los Alamitos will add stalls to its barn area,
as we will stable about 700 additional Thoroughbred horses. Los Alamitos will
also be available as a year-round training facility.”
“This project is being done in cooperation with Santa Anita, Del Mar and the
TOC,” Los Alamitos spokesman Brad McKinzie said. “There is unlimited potential
for daytime Thoroughbred racing in beautiful Orange County with the sport being
showcased to a great, new fan base. This is also great for Quarter Horse racing
as it will expose the breed to a whole new audience. It is important to note
that while Los Alamitos currently races Thoroughbreds at distances of 4 1/2
furlongs or less, this new meeting will not be limited to those distances. This
will be a top meet and the plan is to attract all of the top barns from around
the nation with an impressive stakes schedule, top purses in allowance races and
more.”
“The potential is there to make the Los Alamitos meet a top destination for
Thoroughbred horsemen everywhere,” McKinzie added. “We will be requesting five
weeks of racing at the next CHRB meeting and we have every reason to believe
that they will be approved and every reason to believe that these dates will be
ours in the years to come.”
From 1978 through 1980, Los Alamitos conducted the highly successful Orange
County Racing Fair meet during the daytime, which eventually went to nights and
continued to be held through 1991.
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