12-Day Los Al Fall Meet to Start Sept. 8
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Photo: Los Alamitos
California Chrome will be celebrated at Los Alamitos Sept. 17
The third Los Angeles County Fair meet at Los Alamitos Race Course is set to start Sept. 8.
Post time for the 12-day season will be 2 p.m. PDT. Racing will be conducted on a Thursday-Sunday basis through Sept. 25.
The richest race of the meet is the $200,000 Los Alamitos Derby (gr. II) Sept. 23. The 1 1/8-mile Derby was run during the Summer Thoroughbred Festival in July the previous two years. Shared Belief won the 2014 renewal while Gimme Da Lute prevailed in 2015.
Sept. 10 will feature the first two stakes of the season. Three-year-old fillies will travel six furlongs in the $75,000 Beverly J. Lewis while California-breds 3-year-olds and older will run one mile in the $75,000 E.B. Johnston.
Completing a stakes schedule worth a total of $550,000 are the $100,000 Barretts Debutante for 2-year-old fillies (Sept. 17) and the $100,000 Barretts Juvenile for 2-year-olds (Sept. 18). Both 6 1/2-furlong races are restricted to horses offered for purchase in any Barretts sale.
Sept. 17 will also be "California Chrome Day'' at Los Alamitos. In conjunction with a proclamation from the City of Cypress, Calif., Los Alamitos will honor its most famous resident and North America's richest Thoroughbred.
Although the 5-year-old son of Lucky Pulpit will not make an on-track appearance Saturday afternoon, fans are invited to watch California Chrome work that morning. He is scheduled to drill five furlongs at 7 a.m. for trainer Art Sherman as he continues to prepare for the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes (gr. I) Oct. 1 at Santa Anita Park.
A California Chrome plush toy will be given to the first 2,500 paid admissions and a presentation will be made by Cypress city officials to members of the California-bred's team, including Sherman. There will also be a video montage featuring highlights of California Chrome's career.