The success of the ongoing Los Alamitos summer meeting may depend on participation from runners that raced in Northern California last year.
The three-week meeting began on Friday and continues through July 6. This is the first Los Alamitos daytime Thoroughbred meeting since racing ceased in Northern California last December. A fall meeting at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton had poor business figures, leading to the cancellation of a proposed winter-spring meeting.
No other race meetings are scheduled in that part of the state this year after the California Horse Racing Board rejected proposed fall meetings at Ferndale and Fresno at its meeting on Thursday. The decision marked the third consecutive month the regulatory body had voted against proposed meetings at county fair venues in Northern California.
On Thursday, the racing board voted 4-3 against the proposals. One concern was the lack of available horses after northern stables dispersed largely to Southern California or Emerald Downs in Washington state earlier this year.
From Friday through Sunday at Los Alamitos, there are 35 horses entered that raced at Fresno or Pleasanton last fall – 11 on Friday, 15 on Saturday, and nine on Sunday. Their continued involvement will be key to a successful season, according to racing secretary Randy Valdez.
“I think we’ll have good participation,” he said.
Earlier this year, Santa Anita offered restricted races for horses that were previously based in Northern California. Los Alamitos is not offering such races but does have race categories – such as $6,250 claiming races and $12,500 claiming races for maiden California-breds – designed to attract such runners.
Saturday’s program has two $6,250 claiming races which drew 12 runners apiece, including two on also-eligible lists. Of those 24 horses, 11 raced in Northern California last fall.
This weekend, before scratches, there will be a maximum of 75 horses runners in eight races on Friday and 73 in nine races on Saturday, but only 55 in eight races on Sunday. Five races have also-eligible lists.
Los Alamitos does not have a turf course and has a purse structure lower than what is offered at Del Mar or Santa Anita. The track also caters more to claiming horses than those tracks. There are five $6,250 claiming races through the weekend. Of the 25 races carded, 20 are of the claiming variety.
Los Alamitos runs three brief meetings annually. In 2024, the track’s summer and September meetings had average higher field sizes than the corresponding meetings in 2023, while the December meeting was down from 6.73 runners in 2023 to 6.56 last year.
The strongest meeting in the last two years was the summer of 2024, which drew an average of 6.91 runners per race. The figure is the benchmark track officials hope to surpass in coming weeks.
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