California Horse Racing Board unanimously approved at its Sept. 19 plans to allocate five weeks of daytime Thoroughbred racing at Los Alamitos Race Course in 2014. As a result, the Cypress oval will also become a year-round site for Thoroughbred training starting next season.
The CHRB approved two weeks of Thoroughbred Racing at Los Alamitos from July 3, 2014 to July 13, 2014 and three weeks from December 4, 2014 to December 21, 2014. Los Alamitos Race Course has contracted with the Thoroughbred Owners of California to provide up to 700 stalls on a year round basis for Thoroughbreds on the major Southern California circuit. Some of these horses are expected to begin arriving on February 1, 2014.
Nighttime Quarter Horse racing will be conducted concurrently three nights per week (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) during the 5 weeks of Thoroughbred racing. The present major stakes program for Quarter Horses, which includes three futurities for 2-year-old Quarter Horses each worth over $1,000,000, the $975,000 Los Alamitos Super Derby for 3-year-olds and the $750,000 Champion of Champions for older horses, will remain unchanged. Daytime Thoroughbred race meetings are planned for 2015 on similar dates to the 2014 schedule.
The plan calls for the present 5/8-mile racetrack to be extended to a distance just short of one mile. There will be no disruption in the Quarter Horse live racing program during the construction of the mile track. Long time Track Consultant, Dennis Moore, will supervise the track reconstruction.
“The strong positive effects of major Thoroughbred racing will be evident on both a short and long term basis,” said Ed Allred, owner of Los Alamitos Race Course. “We anticipate a stronger, better Los Alamitos Race Course for years to come as a result of these changes.”
Grandstand box seat areas will be created primarily for day time Thoroughbred racing Allred added. Outside boxes will be provided in the Vessels Club, which is the track’s turf club that overlooks the finish line.
Los Alamitos annually ranks as a leading daytime satellite facility in terms of handle in California, especially on major racing days like Kentucky Derby Day and on the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Earlier this year, Los Alamitos handled a total of $1,952,913 on the Thoroughbred simulcast program on Kentucky Derby Day. The Derby Day handle was the highest among all California satellite facilities, even higher than that at Santa Anita. Only Hollywood Park, which was hosting a live daytime Thoroughbred race card, had a bigger handle than Los Alamitos on Kentucky Derby Day. Los Alamitos was also the top satellite facility in California on Breeders’ Cup Day 2012 with $1,463,894. Only Santa Anita, which was the Breeders’ Cup host track, had a higher handle in California.
“Los Alamitos plans to offer top-class Thoroughbred racing,” added Los Alamitos consultant Brad McKinzie.
From 1978 through 1980, Los Alamitos conducted the highly successful Orange County Racing Fair meet during the daytime. Hall of Fame jockeys like Willie Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay Jr., Chris McCarron rode and Hall of Fame trainers like Richard Mandella, Neil Drysdale, D. Wayne Lukas, Bobby Frankel and others campaigned horses at Los Alamitos during the Orange County Racing Fair, which eventually went to nights and continued to be held through 1991.