Los Alamitos Race Course has received approval from the California Horse Racing Board to cancel its scheduled live racing programs during the weekend of Jan. 17-19 in order to complete its expansion to a one-mile oval.
As they have for the past several months, post-Hollywood Park racing plans will dominate the agenda for the California Horse Racing Board when it meets Sept. 19 in Pomona beginning at 9:30 a.m. PDT.
Los Alamitos Race Course will press ahead with plans to conduct Thoroughbred racing in the absence of Betfair Hollywood Park next year, representatives of the Orange County track announced Sept. 12.
A California rule that rescinds the claim of a horse placed on the veterinarian's list following the race in which the claim was submitted resulted in 19 of 229 purchases being voided at three tracks in the first month.
Horsemen in California are pushing ahead with plans to make Los Alamitos Race Course and San Luis Rey Downs full-time off-track stabling sites once Betfair Hollywood Park is no longer available.
The framework for a Southern California racing calendar over the next two years with the impending closure of Betfair Hollywood Park was approved by the California Horse Racing Board May 23.
The president of the California Thoroughbred Trainers wants a more transparent process for selecting the track that will eventually succeed Betfair Hollywood Park and is calling for renewed consideration of Fairplex Park.
Los Alamitos Race Course officials were planning to meet Feb. 1 with the city of Cypress, Calif., to begin discussing expansion of the Orange County facility to accommodate Thoroughbred racing and training.
Fairplex Park, one of two locations under consideration as a replacement for Betfair Hollywood Park, is out of the running for now, says the president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles County Fair facility.
Ending much speculation about its immediate future, Betfair Hollywood Park will operate its annual fall meet in 2013, track president Jack Liebau said in an appearance before the California Horse Racing Board Jan. 17.
Like dealing with a bad tooth, California racing representatives are coming to terms with the fact that Betfair Hollywood Park will eventually have to be replaced.
R.D. Hubbard, chairman and majority owner of Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico, announced Sept. 3 that serious drug offenders will be banned from the race track's private property beginning in 2013.
Quarter Horse trainer Adan Farias, arrested last month by federal authorities on money laundering charges involving a notorious Mexican drug cartel, has had his license revoked for two years by the CHRB in an unrelated case.
Rod Blonien, a tireless California lobbyist for horse racing and gambling interests, died at his home in Sacramento March 13 of an apparent heart attack.
California Gov. Jerry Brown has approved legislation that increases from 32 to 50 the limit on the daily number of imported races on which a racing association or fair simulcast facility in the state can accept wagers.
Satisfied that owners were getting as much as possible for purses from a recent state increase in takeout, the California Horse Racing Board granted three advance deposit wagering companies one-year extensions Jan. 20.
Thoroughbred racing in California remained uncertain about the future following a state horse racing board meeting July 22 in which major track owner MI Developments refused once again to provide a glimpse of its plans.
Dr. Edward C. Allred, owner of Los Alamitos Race Course in Southern California, resigned as president and chairman of the board of the Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred track effective May 15.
TVG announced Dec. 17 that it had reached agreement with Los Alamitos Race Course to extend its exclusive arrangement for television and account wagering with the Orange County, Calif. track for an additional 10 years.
Quarantine restrictions at Golden Gate Fields, Bay Meadows and the Alameda County Fair at Pleasanton due to the presence of Equine Herpes Virus-1 were lifted Jan. 10, but three new cases of EHV-1 at Los Alamitos Race Course have been confirmed, according to a California Horse Racing Board advisory.
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.
With the future of Hollywood Park in doubt, prominent Thoroughbred owner Mike Pegram and Los Alamitos Race Course owner Dr. Edward C. Allred unveiled a $40 million plan March 17 to expand and upgrade the Quarter Horse facility in order to fill an expected void in the Southern California market.
Track operator Capitol Racing, which decided to walk away from its harness meet in Sacramento, is moving on – to Idaho and other breeds.
Black Ruby, the "Secretariat of Mules," will square off with her archrival Taz in the first pari-mutuel mule race ever held at Los Alamitos Race Course on May 23. The two popular mules will compete in a $10,000 Battle of the Titans match race at 300 yards.
A jockey was sentenced to three years' probation and ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution after California investigators found he purposely fell off his mounts to collect disability benefits.
