Los Al Seeks Thoro Dates '14 & '15
Sept 12, 2013 23:52:08 GMT -5
Post by Jon on Sept 12, 2013 23:52:08 GMT -5
Los Alamitos Seeks Thoroughbred Race Meets for 2014, 2015
Paulick Report
Representatives of Los Alamitos Race Course 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 Thursday, September 19.
Pending the approval by the California Horse Racing Board, Los Alamitos Race Course will conduct five weeks of first class 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 Thursday, July 3 and ending on Sunday, July 13 and a three week winter meeting starting on Thursday, December 4 through Sunday, December 21.
Thoroughbred racing would be conducted on a Thursday through Sunday basis with the summer meeting featuring racing on Friday, July 4. 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 racing and Quarter Horse racing’s richest stakes schedule in the nation highlighted by the $2,000,000 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.
Plans call for the existing 5/8th 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 Race Course. 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 added. “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 ½ 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.”
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.
“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. 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.
Paulick Report
Representatives of Los Alamitos Race Course 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 Thursday, September 19.
Pending the approval by the California Horse Racing Board, Los Alamitos Race Course will conduct five weeks of first class 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 Thursday, July 3 and ending on Sunday, July 13 and a three week winter meeting starting on Thursday, December 4 through Sunday, December 21.
Thoroughbred racing would be conducted on a Thursday through Sunday basis with the summer meeting featuring racing on Friday, July 4. 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 racing and Quarter Horse racing’s richest stakes schedule in the nation highlighted by the $2,000,000 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.
Plans call for the existing 5/8th 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 Race Course. 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 added. “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 ½ 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.”
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.
“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. 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.
. Back on topic, I really don't have an opinion about this. Itd a wait and see approach. Early indication it may be a good thing because I really dont want to see california racing suffer more than it already has. There are too many people who depend on it to pay bills.