Los Alamitos Owner Offers to Run Santa Anita Race Dates

Los Alamitos Race Course owner Ed Allred has presented an offer to the California Horse Racing Board to run races at his Cypress, Calif., track should the suspension of racing at Santa Anita Park continue for an extended period of time.

Allred said March 6, a day after Santa Anita announced it had suspended racing and training to assess the safety of its main track, that he has offered a "contingency plan" to the CHRB as well as the Thoroughbred Owners of California. Santa Anita's decision to suspend racing and training indefinitely was made hours after Lets Light the Way was fatally injured during training—the 21st equine fatality of its meet, which began Dec. 26.

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"We have a contingency plan with (CHRB) chairman Chuck Winner," Allred said. "If it's determined—and I don't want to make it seem like we're salivating or hoping this is going to happen—after (consultant) Dennis Moore's (analysis) that racing at Santa Anita will continue to be suspended, we're prepared to jump in and do what's necessary. But that all can't start until we apply for a license."

Winner confirmed Allred's offer but did not go so far as to say it was an agreed-upon plan.

"All options are on the table, and it's a generous offer by Dr. Allred, but our hope is things don't go in that direction and the situation at Santa Anita is resolved," Winner said.

Winner went on to say that any race meet license would need to be approved by the CHRB in a public meeting, and any public meeting of the CHRB requires 10 days of public notice before it could be conducted. The CHRB has a regular monthly public meeting scheduled March 21 at Golden Gate Fields in Northern California, but another meeting prior to that could be arranged if desired, as long as the 10 days of public notice are given.

Allred said Los Alamitos would be prepared to offer Thoroughbred racing as soon as needed. Los Alamitos runs its nighttime races with Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds Friday-through-Sunday year-round but also runs eight weeks of daytime Thoroughbred racing a year under normal circumstances.

Any racing application would also need a horsemen's agreement (in this case, with the TOC). Representatives from the TOC were not available for comment Wednesday.

Allred also indicated he'd be willing to run stakes races scheduled to be run at Santa Anita, including those important on the trail to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), if Santa Anita is willing to do so. Santa Anita's suspension of racing has wiped out one of the most important racing days of the year in California. The March 9 race card was supposed to feature the grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes, and a pair of grade 2 races, including the San Felipe Stakes, an important Kentucky Derby prep. A Tuesday night press release from The Stronach Group, Santa Anita's owner, said those races will be rescheduled.

"With cooperation from Santa Anita, we could run stakes if necessary," Allred said. "It's not best-case scenario, but they're big races and they've played a significant role nationally in recent years. We've had two Triple Crown winners (American Pharoah  and Justify ) and a Horse of the Year (California Chrome ) stabled here, and we're very proud of that."

On Tuesday Allred also extended an offer to Santa Anita horsemen to train at Los Alamitos while Santa Anita is closed, and he said Wednesday a number of horsemen have moved or are planning to move horses from Santa Anita to the Orange County racetrack, including 12 from trainer Richard Mandella, who did not previously have horses at Los Alamitos, as well as fellow Hall of Famers Bob Baffert and Jerry Hollendorfer, who maintain regular barns there.

Allred mentioned trainer Peter Eurton was another moving horses to Los Alamitos and that the track is opening its receiving barn to give horsemen the option to ship in, train, cool out, and then eventually ship back to Santa Anita. Horsemen at Santa Anita were hopeful Wednesday that the training track at Santa Anita would reopen by March 8 for galloping and jogging, but not timed workouts.

"I’m going to move some over there for training. It could be for a few days, it could be for a few weeks," said Eurton, who indicated he would send 10-12 horses to Los Alamitos soon. "I have some horses with stakes spots picked out for them, and if we do continue (racing at Santa Anita) soon, they need to train."