Los Alamitos owner threatens to close track over half-year license

Los Alamitos owner Dr. Ed Allred threatened to permanently close at a meeting of the California Horse Racing Board, where the board was voting to approve a half-year meet license for the track.

The board had initially been set to issue Los Alamitos its normal yearlong license, but due to the past year’s injury issues at the track, vice-chairman Oscar Gonzales made the motion of approving dates until June 30, then revisiting. Allred called into the meeting to issue an ultimatum.

“We cannot go on that way,” Allred said. “We would withdraw our application to race. I would stop racing. This is devastating to the quarter horse industry. We run races for seven figures, four of them. People are making payments from the time the horses are babies.”

Allred said the track would become real estate development.

Los Alamitos was reviewed earlier this year by the board after an increase in fatalities and injuries. According to the Los Angeles Times, the track has seen 29 racing or training fatalities since its 2020 meet began last Dec. 27, the highest number of any track in the state.

Gonzales was asked if the application could be approved for the entire year, with the possibility of reviewing or revoking at a later date. He said he wanted to make the point that tracks should not count on receiving the approval of the board if they are not on the right track with regards to safety.

“I just believe that the levers that we have to exercise, to bring accountability, integrity and transparency, they have to be exercised to their fullest,” Gonzales said. “And I personally feel that the racetrack, in California or nowhere in this country should automatically assume that they’re going to be given the right to race for an entire year without ensuring that horses are safe.”

Los Alamitos is usually given a full year license to run both Thoroughbred and quarter horse races. The track runs quarter horse and lower-level Thoroughbred races normally, with two high-level Thoroughbred meets every year.

Earlier in the meeting, Los Alamitos safety plan was presented, which includes a 14-day withdrawal period before racing for any horse that receives an intra-articular injection and a 30-day wait for any that receive a corticosteroid.

Allred continued his objection to only being granted a half-year license.

“We cannot have this. We have no objection of course to be reviewed at any time if some untoward effect results, but I don’t want the application if those conditions are there,” Allred said. “If you’re going to only do it for six months, people can’t make preparations.”

In the end, the motion for a six-month license passed, though board chairman Greg Ferraro said he felt it was a mistake. The 2021 Los Alamitos meet is scheduled to begin next Saturday.