Allred Pulls Out of Los Alamitos Plan

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Ed Allred, the owner of Los Alamitos Race Course, has reportedly backed out of a plan that could have brought Thoroughbred racing to his Quarter Horse facility in the event Hollywood Park were to be sold to development interests.

Allred told the Los Angeles Times he's no longer interested in a deal announced in March with prominent owner Mike Pegram to expand Los Alamitos, which is in Orange County, but is leaving the door open for other investors who might want to race Thoroughbreds there.

"I've pulled out," Allred told the newspaper. "I'm not going to be a part of the rebuilding, if there is any, and I'm not going after the Hollywood Park racing dates."

Pegram has proposed spending $40 million to reconfigure the six-furlong dirt oval and add a turf course in a two-year project that would have included the addition of dozens of new barns and renovation of the grandstand. That would give the Southern California region an option to continue year-round racing in the event Churchill Downs Inc., the owner of Hollywood Park, were to sell the Inglewood track. The move has been rumored for some time, although CDI has refused to confirm or deny it is actively pursuing a sale.

"I'm almost 69 years old, and at this stage I just can't see jeopardizing an asset that's worth hundreds of millions of dollars," Allred told the Times.

Hollywood Park, which opened in 1938, resumed its spring/summer meeting April 22. The 240-acre site is reportedly worth more than $200 million.

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