Horseracing runs in the veins of Dr. Edward C. Allred, owner of Los Alamitos Race Course.
As a medical student in the 1950s, Allred said he was a regular at the Orange County race track, often ditching medical school to bet on quarter horses,a compact muscular saddle horse known for endurance and speed.
Since then, Allred has developed a lucrative medical practice as owner of Long Beach-based Family Planning Associates, a string of gynecological clinics (18 in California and two in Chicago), and a Los Angeles hospital that also performs abortions.
But Allred hasn’t pushed his passion for horses aside. He’s said to be one of the largest quarter horse owners in the country, raising 100 colts per year at his farm, Rolling A Ranch, in Atascadero on California’s central coast.
He also owns an interest in the prestigious Ruidoso Downs racecourse in New Mexico, the location of the All American Futurity, said to be the richest race in the quarter horse business.
The sport has become so much a part of Allred,a Newport Beach resident with mansions across the country,that he recently turned down $80 million from Canadian race track operator Magna Entertainment Corp. to buy Los Alamitos.
“They offered me the amount I asked, but I just couldn’t do it,” Allred said. “I love this place. This is still the Big Apple for quarter horse racing.”
Los Alamitos, which does about $1.3 million in bets daily, has gained a reputation among racing buffs. It offers live horse racing 50 weeks per year from Thursday through Sunday nights, and simulcasting during the day.
Allred said Magna gave him some assurance that the track, nestled in the middle of an industrial and residential district, would be kept as a quarter horse course.
But there were no guarantees.
“If we ever lost this for any reason, it would be a major blow to the industry,” Allred said.
And the industry, including 51-year-old Los Alamitos, has seen its fair share of knocks through the years. So has Allred: his medical practice has come under fire from anti-abortion activists, who’ve even picketed outside the race track.
On the flipside, though, Allred is credited with reviving Los Alamitos.
The track started as a 435-acre farm called Vessels Ranch run by the Vessels family. Later it became a prosperous racecourse, drawing crowds of about 17,000. In 1984, it was sold to Hollywood Park Operating Co., which ran into financial trouble.
Two businessmen bought the park in 1989. Allred purchased a majority stake in 1990. Eight years later he became the sole owner.
Allred is credited with overhauling the park. Plans entailed a $5 million upscale dining and entertainment section, called The Vessels Club, where Allred still cozies up to watch the races.
The posh club overlooking the track, lush greens and two lakes (once part of a local golf course) makes betting more comfortable. But it hasn’t prevented attendance from dropping off over the years.
“The crowds are about a third less than they were years ago,” Allred said. “That was a different era.”
As other types of gambling (namely Indian casinos) encroached on Los Alamitos’ attendance base, and horse racing became a granddaddy’s past time, crowds have dwindled from 17,000 in the heyday to about 5,000 these days.
“There’s certainly an aging fan base,” Allred said. “That’s not to say it’s not being replaced,but it’s a much slower evolvement.”
Los Alamitos is benefiting from one demographic shift: Hispanics are a growing part of the track’s fan base. Families frequent Los Alamitos on the weekends. Hispanics have also entered the ranks of jockeys and owners, Allred said.
“It’s good because (a high percentage) of the population in this area is Latino now,” Allred said. “We need to do a better job working with this group.”
But a recent trip to the track showed rows of empty bleachers and patches of fans sitting in ground level chair seating.
The race track also has seen downsizing. Los Alamitos now is about 200 acres vs. its old 400, and has had chunks of its land taken over by other businesses, including Grace Church and private school, and Cypress Golf Club.
Still, Allred is quick to point out that fans continue to watch and wager on races through other venues. Plus, he said the daily per capita handle has more than quadrupled since the old days, making it the highest in the racecourse’s history.
“Most people don’t understand that,” Allred said.
Simulcasting allows fans to gamble on Los Alamitos races in other states. And recently Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill that lets people bet on California horse races via the telephone or the Internet, effective Jan. 1. The move is expected to dramatically expand the number of people wagering on races.
But in the short run, Allred said he doesn’t expect much of an impact, as Internet betting (already legal in 10 other states) comes with a lot of restrictions. For one, people must pre-establish accounts with funds to use for wagering.
“I think it will be a non-event for the first few years,” Allred said. “It’ll take some time to evolve and work out the kinks.”
Still, Los Alamitos is anticipating a further drop in attendance, and possibly a drop in revenue, according to Jeff True, director of marketing and simulcasting at Los Alamitos.
“Because off-track revenues are slightly less than on-track revenues, racetracks may have a short-term downturn,” True said. “Ultimately, we think that broad distribution, especially in a large market like LA, will enable us to achieve higher handles with more people.”
And True said that as online betting’s popularity grows it may eventually attract more fans to the track wanting to experience the live event.
Allred, a well-connected Republican who served a two-year term on the California Horse Racing Commission in 1994, paints a more sober picture.
He said the future for Los Alamitos may be “enormously marvelous” or non-existent depending on how the horse racing industry fits into the Indian casino picture,its biggest competitor,and deals with the Internet and technology.
“I’d say we have five years to work on this,” he said.
Plus, Allred said he’s not sure what the new generation of horse racing will bring, and if racecourses will be part of it.
Perhaps, he said, tracks like Los Alamitos will become too expensive to run in urban areas, where land is being gobbled up for commercial and residential uses.
“I don’t know what it’s going to be,” Allred said, looking out at the course’s lush greens. “But I hope it’s going to be a race track.” n
