Los Alamitos Race Course officials July 13 said the eight-day summer Thoroughbred meet generated average daily total pari-mutuel handle of $5,070,966.
It was the first Thoroughbred-only meet at the Southern California racetrack since the Orange County Fair session in 1991. Los Alamitos does offer limited Thoroughbred racing at night as part of its Quarter Horse meet.
"It was a great first step for Los Alamitos," vice president and general manager Brad McKinzie said. "We put on a good show and that was our main goal. We could always use more horses, but everybody could use more horses. We're happy."
According to The Jockey Club Information Systems, field size during the meet averaged 6.99 horses per race. Purses averaged $348,769 per day.
Los Alamitos this year took what would have been the last two weeks of the Hollywood Park spring meet. The rest of those dates were absorbed by Santa Anita Park, which reported average daily all-sources handle of $9.92 million and paid about $480,000 per day in purses.
Hollywood Park shut down at the end of 2013.
Los Alamitos will offer another Thoroughbred meet Sept. 5-21. Those are the days that had normally run by Fairplex Park, which has opted to get out of the live racing business.
