Los Alamitos

After 8 1/2 furlongs of Saturday's GII Los Alamitos Futurity, it was a 'Close Encounter' with pacesetting outsider The Great One (Nyquist)--playing 'Catch Me If You Can'--but $1-million Keeneland September yearling purchase Spielberg (Union Rags) managed to snatch victory from the 'Jaws' of defeat, as he was the recipient of the kindest of headbobs to give Bob Baffert his seventh consecutive victory in the event, now held at the Orange County oval. Drawn widest in a field of six, the second betting choice attended the pace three wide outside of...

Red Flag (Tamarkuz), last seen romping in the GIII Bob Hope S. Nov. 15, headlines Saturday's GII Los Alamitos Futurity S. Off the board in his main track debut Sept. 6, the chestnut graduated in a turf sprint at Santa Anita Oct. 10 and romped by 7 1/4 lengths in Del Mar's seven-panel Bob Hope back on dirt, earning an 81 Beyer Speed Figure. This will be his first try around two turns. The only horse in the field to run a faster number is Spielberg (Union Rags), who earned...

According to reports in the Los Angeles Times and The BloodHorse, Los Alamitos owner Dr. Ed Allred told the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Thursday that he plans on withdrawing his application to run Thoroughbred and nighttime Quarter Horse races in 2021. Allred said he would look to convert the Los Alamitos property to real estate. Allred made the announcement after the CHRB voted to grant the track a six-month license instead of a license for a full year. The decision to give Los Alamitos what amounted to only an...

Bob Baffert was favored to win his fourth straight renewal of the GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos Saturday...just with a different horse. Grade I-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Princess Noor (Not This Time) was favored to rebound off a fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 6, but instead was pulled up and her stablemate Varda (Distorted Humor) took up the baton, springing a 17-1 upset. It was also the fourth consecutive Starlet victory for winning pilot Drayden Van Dyke and the second for Susan and Charlie Chu's...

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith has tested positive for COVID-19, forcing him to bypass this weekend's stakes action at Los Alamitos, according to the DRF's Steve Andersen Friday. "I don't have any symptoms," he told DRF. "I'll have to wait a few days and test again. Hopefully, I'll be back up for the following week. I'll watch a little Netflix." Smith, whose positive was determined following a test at Santa Anita Friday, was scheduled to accompany Astute (Speightstown) in Saturday's GI Starlet S. and Proud Emma (Include) in Sunday's...

LNJ Foxwoods' Astute (Speightstown) looks to take her record to three-for-three Saturday in the GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos. Graduating in her career bow sprinting on turf at Santa Anita Oct. 12, the $425,000 KEESEP purchase romped by 7 1/2 lengths next out on dirt in Del Mar's Desi Arnaz S. Nov. 14. Princess Noor (Not This Time) hopes to return to winning ways as she sheds the blinkers here after finishing fifth as the favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland last out Nov. 6....

CHRB licensed owners with horses entered to race will be permitted to attend the races at the Los Alamitos winter meet, which begins Friday, Dec. 4. Owners will also be permitted to bring up to two adult guests. Owners wishing to attend the races should email or call Elsa Peron, Administrative Assistant of TOC (eperon@toconline.com) to secure access, and reservations can be made up until 24 hours before race day. On race days, owners must show their license when entering Los Alamitos Racecourse and park in the designated area. Owners...

News last week that more than 200 people living or working on-site at Golden Gate Fields had tested positive for COVID-19, and that the facility would have to close its doors to live racing through November, arrived against a state-wide backdrop of rising cases, hospitalizations and COVID-related deaths. As with Golden Gate, these trends have landed with subsidiary impacts. Over the weekend, L.A. County public health officials suspended outdoor restaurant dining. Before that, the county announced other restrictions, including curfews and capacity limitations at certain stores and other public places....

Five stakes races--three of which are graded--highlight the 2020 Los Angeles County Fair Winter Thoroughbred meet at Los Alamitos. The season will begin Friday, Dec. 4 and continue through Sunday, Dec. 20. Racing is scheduled to be conducted Friday-Sunday the first week (Dec. 4-6) and Thursday-Sunday the final two weeks (Dec. 10-13 and Dec. 17-20). Post time will be 1 p.m. on weekdays and 12:30 p.m. on weekends. The $300,000 GI Starlet S. and the $200,000 GII Los Alamitos Futurity will be run, respectively, Saturday, Dec. 5 and Saturday, Dec....

Last week, a Santa Anita press release had the misfortune of arriving amid the squall of a busy news cycle. In a nutshell, the release shared this not insignificant titbit: The track had wrapped a 16-day race meet, and a one month and 20-day training period, with zero fatalities. Since the beginning of the winter/spring meet last December, there have been five racing fatalities--zero on the main dirt track--from 5,069 individual starts. The resulting ratio for the year of an average of 0.98 fatalities per 1,000 starters made Santa Anita...

As in past years, the concept of "compromise" was accentuated in the assignment of 2021 race dates by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) at its Oct. 22 meeting. But this year, crafting a statewide racing calendar based on cooperation took on even more importance. That's because both the Southern and Northern California circuits have been significantly altered by closures and cancellations over the past 18 months due to several spates of equine fatalities, unseasonably wet weather, wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. With all of those factors in mind, the...

by Dan Ross and Jessica Martini CYPRESS, CA - With numbers predictably down against a backdrop of pandemic and economic uncertainties, a total of 166 yearlings grossed $3,735,700 during the Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearlings Sale held Monday at Los Alamitos Race Course. The average of $22,504 was down 15.9% from last year's inaugural Fasig California Yearling sale and the median dropped 30.0% to $10,000. "Statistically it was in line with what we've seen at the Kentucky sales and the Ocala sales," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said at the close of...