Los Alamitos

Jockey Abel Cedillo earned his second Los Alamitos riding title while trainer Peter Miller topped the trainer standings as the Los Angeles County Fair meet concluded Sunday. Cedillo also led the standings during the 2020 LACF Winter season. Miller finished the LACF season with seven wins, one more than Steve Miyadi. Hall of Famer Bob Baffert was third with five. The title was the sixth Miller has either shared or won outright at Los Alamitos since daytime Thoroughbred racing returned in 2014. All-sources handle for the LACF season showed a...

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Wednesday unanimously approved a 2022 race dates schedule that looks similar to this year's version, with two significant tweaks: 1) Santa Anita Park will take a mid-April break in the midst of its six-month meet; 2) Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) will have a summer-meet closing date of Sept. 11, a departure from tradition that will extend the meet six days beyond Labor Day. The dates allotment was unanimously approved at the Sept. 15 CHRB meeting. The process itself was surprisingly streamlined and...

The upcoming 10-day Los Angeles County Fair meet at Los Alamitos will feature five stakes races worth $400,000. The richest of the stakes races is the $100,000 Los Alamitos Special. The race at 1 1/16 miles--it was run previously (2018-2019) at 1 1/4 miles--will be run Sept. 19. The initial stakes of the season is the $75,000 Beverly J. Lewis for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs which will be run Sept. 11. There are two stakes events for 2-year-olds. The $75,000 Capote S. will be run Sept. 18 and the...

As the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) begins the planning process for crafting 2022 race dates on both the Southern and Northern circuits, it appears as if there is some consensus for including a one-week break with no racing, although no exact time frame for any proposed hiatus has been publicly identified. At Wednesday's monthly meeting, CHRB vice chair Oscar Gonzales updated the full board on the two-hour dates subcommittee teleconference that took place Tuesday and included representatives from tracks and horsemen's groups. "We obviously didn't take a vote on...

Classier went wire-to-wire and resolutely held off stablemate Defunded to give trainer Bob Baffert his fifth straight win in the GIII Los Alamitos Derby Sunday. Sent off at 6-5, Classier was on the lead through fractions of :22.98 and :47.01. Defunded, the 3-5 favorite, rolled up to challenge the pacesetter after three-quarters in 1:11.08 and, while Classier began inching away in upper stretch, the favorite battled back in a stirring stretch battle to the wire. Classier refused to yield and earned his first graded victory in determined fashion. "I waited...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency PRICEY INTO MISCHIEF DEBUTS IN JERSEY 7th-MTH, $45K, Msw, 3yo/up, 5 1/2fT, 3:03p.m. Red Oak Stable's $360,000 KEESEP acquisition COMEDIC TIMING (Into Mischief) debuts in Oceanport. The bay is a half-brother to MGISW turfer Divisidero (Kitten's Joy). TJCIS PPs BAFFERT UNVEILS QUALITY FILLY 3rd-LRC, $45K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 4:58p.m. Bob Baffert sends out yet another pricey firster in Sarah Kelly's $425,000 KEESEP buy VELVET SLIPPERS (Quality Road). The bay boasts a speedy worktab in preparation for this debut, most recently breezing a best-of-29 five...

The GIII Los Alamitos Derby will not be run as originally scheduled Saturday, July 3, Los Alamitos announced Wednesday. The race for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles will be brought back as an extra for Sunday, July 4 in hopes of drawing more entrants. Sunday is the penultimate day of Los Alamitos's Summer Thoroughbred Festival. Entries for the July 4 program will be taken Thursday, July 1.

Three stakes races worth $450,000--including a pair of graded events--will highlight the Summer Thoroughbred Festival at Los Alamitos. The seven-day meet is scheduled to begin Friday, June 25 and continue through Monday, July 5. Racing will be conducted Friday-Sunday (June 25-27) the first week and Friday-Monday (July 2-5) the second. Post time will be 1 p.m. The richest event on the calendar is the $200,000 GII Great Lady M. S. for fillies & mares at 6 1/2 furlongs July 5. The other graded race is the $150,000 GIII Los Alamitos...

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) has released its annual report, covering both the fiscal year 2019-2020 and the calendar year 2020. As expected, given the onslaught of a global pandemic, it paints a rather grim economic picture, but there are major positives to be gleaned, chiefly in the equine safety arena. When it comes to the business side of the equation, all-breed total handle generation during 2020 declined by 7% over the prior year. Because of a wholesale shift away from bricks and mortar wagering towards ADW platforms last...

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) voted 4-3 Jan. 21 to grant Los Alamitos Race Course a full-year Quarter Horse racing license for 2021, superseding a 5-1 vote from last month that awarded only a six-month license out of concerns that management wasn't doing enough to mitigate the 29 equine deaths that occurred at the track in 2020. In the immediate aftermath of that controversial interim licensure in December, Los Al owner Ed Allred had threatened to close his track and develop the property for a purpose other than racing,...

Facing a reported $2-million budget deficit, the Southern California Stabling & Vanning Racing Committee has performed a fiscal juggling act to maintain the stabling status-quo in the southern portion of the state during 2021, with year-round auxiliary stabling assured for the year at Los Alamitos and San Luis Rey Downs, while off-site training will continue at Santa Anita during the Los Alamitos Thoroughbred and Del Mar Fall meets. Last year, the program--funded in equal parts by the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) purse account and the Southern California racetracks--cost approximately...

As the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act resurfaced last week as part of an omnibus spending bill passed by the House and Senate, the same questions were being asked all over again. What will the new way of doing things cost and who is going to pay for it? All anyone really knows at this point is that the states will be expected to foot the bill and their share will depend on how much racing there is in each state. Kentucky, with year-round racing, will have to pay more...