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Los Al Loses Lead in Race for Thoroughbred Status

Los Alamitos Race Course is no longer the front-runner to house thoroughbred training grounds and racing, an addition it has sought with the expected closure of Betfair Hollywood Park in Inglewood looming.

The track has halted a $12 million expansion plan, since Fairplex in Pomona appears to have taken the lead in the bid to replace training facilities to be lost with the expected redevelopment of the area.

The 62-year-old track, which has catered to sprinting quarter horses for its entire history, remains ready to expand if the opportunity arises but will hold off for now.

“We’re sitting on the sidelines,” said Brad McKinzie, a consultant to Los Alamitos Race Course and its longtime owner, Dr. Ed “Doc” Allred.

A shutdown of Hollywood Park would eliminate 1,200 horse stalls from the regional pool.

The Los Alamitos expansion plan called for adding 700 stalls to its current 300 and lengthening its five-eighths-mile track to a mile to meet state standards for thoroughbreds. The plan also included a renovation of the track’s grandstands, with the goal of increasing its current capacity of 15,000.

Allred had investors lined up for the expansion, according to sources close to the plan.

A constituency within California Thoroughbred Racehorse Trainers is pushing for Fairplex, “because it’s closer to where most of them live,” according to McKinzie.

The organization, based at the Santa Anita Race Track in Arcadia, is comprised of some 650 licensed thoroughbred trainers in the state.

Executive Director Alan Balch didn’t return calls for comment.

Los Alamitos was first out of the gate with a proposal to expand its training facilities.

Infighting

The race to win the thoroughbred business has gained speed over the past few months amid infighting among numerous factions of the sport in California, including the trainers association, horse owners, Arcadia-based California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, and the California Horse Racing Board, which regulates the industry from Sacramento.

“There’s a bit of a fight going on in the industry,” McKinzie said.

The horse racing board hasn’t taken an official position on the matter, but it is pushing for a quick resolution.

McKinzie and other interested parties said they’re unconvinced that will happen.

“If the history of the sport means anything, it will be later rather than sooner,” he said. “We can’t control the timetable.”

“Still Interested”

Fairplex recently sent its expansion proposal to interest groups and is awaiting a response.

“We are certainly still interested in being considered for the expansion,” said Fairplex spokesperson Leslie Galerne-Smith. “At this point, it’s in the industry’s hands.”

The Fairplex plan calls for expanding the length of its dirt track, widening the turns for greater safety, and adding a turf track.

The publicly owned complex, which is managed by Fairplex and governed by the L.A. County Fair Association, already has 1,200 stalls, with enough available to meet demand caused by a closure of Hollywood Park, according to Galerne-Smith.

Southern California thoroughbred racing draws millions of fans annually to Hollywood Park, Fairplex, Santa Anita, and Del Mar in San Diego County. The latter three could be in the running to add more races to their calendars next year.

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