The future of the Los Alamitos Race Course, situated on a vast tract of land in the city of Cypress, was thrown into doubt this week when owner Ed Allred threatened to shut it down after the state’s horse racing board refused to award the track a one-year operating permit.
According to Bloodhorse, a horse racing website, the California Horse Racing Board held a contentious meeting Dec. 17 after which regulators granted a license to Los Alamitos Race Course through the end of June rather than a standard full year.
Other accounts, including that of the Los Angeles Times, also confirmed the board’s action.
The site reported that Allred told the Commission, “if you’re going to do it only for six months, people can’t make preparations and plans, going forward,” Allred said. “This is devastating to Los Alamitos. It will become a real estate development. I don’t want that to happen.”
Nevertheless, it did and a determination on a continuation of the Orange County track’s license for the second half of 2021 will not be determined until June when the board evaluates the track’s equine safety record, regulators said.
The six commissioners that attended the virtual meeting—board member Alex Solis was absent—were originally deadlocked in a pair of motions that resulted in neither passing. Commissioners Wendy Mitchell and Brenda Davis joined Oscar Gonzales’ motion to limit the Los Alamitos license to approximately six months, while chairman Dr. Greg Ferraro and commissioners Dennis Alfieri and Damascus Castellanos initially backed a full-year license with follow-up review, the site reported.
Alfieri and Damascus Castellanos later supported the half-year license when it appeared that no motion authorizing a Los Alamitos license would pass. Ferraro remained opposed to the half-year license, saying, “Basically because I think we’re making a mistake.”
The reports said earlier, during the meeting, Los Alamitos submitted an equine safety plan that was approved that now states no horse can be entered in a Los Alamitos race after receiving an intra-articular injection within 14 days preceding the race, or within 30 days in the case of an injection of a corticosteroid.
Horses are not permitted to race if they have received more than two intra-articular injections of a corticosteroid in the same intra-articular space within 60 days of racing.
Bloodhorse said these equine welfare changes were praised by commissioners following a high number of equine fatalities at Los Alamitos this year. A study by the CHRB indicated intra-articular injections occur at a higher rate there than at other major California tracks.
A state-high 28 equine fatalities have occurred at Los Alamitos this year from racing or training, according to CHRB statistics, mostly during the track’s evening programs of Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds. Los Alamitos also serves as a year-round training center and runs two short meets of better-quality Thoroughbreds during the afternoon. One of those afternoon meets is underway.
Prior to the final license vote, Los Alamitos track owner Dr. Ed Allred threatened to withdraw his license application given the prospect of a half-year license. He said that sustained payments are necessary for the track’s Quarter Horse futurities and any uncertainty could impact their business.
Gonzales did not back down from his position and urged Allred to reconsider.
“If the kind of improvements continue, then racing continues at Los Alamitos, as will be the case at other racetracks,” Gonzales said. “But I just don’t feel that a racetrack that has not lived up to the expectations that we’ve set forth in reform—and a very serious-minded board—that we should allow for a carte blanch of racing dates without any conditions or stipulations.”
Reports said Los Alamitos also came under criticism for some of its horses competing in unsanctioned match races off-site in the state during a public comment period by speakers opposed to racing.