Summer Quarter Horse Meeting Opens Tonight at Los Alamitos

Los Alamitos Race Course opens its 35th annual summer quarter horse meeting tonight with the $35,000-added Miss Princess Handicap for fillies and mares. The race, at 350 yards, will be the first stakes race of the 91-night meeting. Racing will be held every night, except Sundays, through Aug. 14.

More than $6.2 million in gross purse money will be offered at the Cypress track, including $2.5 million in combined purses in the Triple Crown series for 2-year-olds. The Triple Crown, which begins June 15 with the 350-yard Kindergarten Stakes, includes the 400-yard Dash For Cash Futurity on July 13 and the 440-yard Los Alamitos Futurity on Aug. 10.

In the Triple Crown’s four-year history, no horse has won all three legs. In last year’s Kindergarten, Real Easy Chick--a 34-1 long shot--defeated the much-heralded Eastex.

Eastex, however, did win the second leg of the Crown, the $1-million Dash For Cash Futurity stakes, a victory that no doubt helped Eastex earn 1984 champion 2-year-old and champion 2-year-old gelding titles. Sixy Chick, who was chosen as the 1984 champion 2-year-old filly, won last year’s final leg, the $1-million Los Alamitos Futurity.

This year, Sixy Chick and Eastex will compete in a summer stakes series for 3-year-olds that includes the $125,000-added Los Alamitos Derby at 440 yards on May 25, the $50,000-added Dash For Cash Derby at 440 yards on July 6 and the $100,000-added Sophomore Handicap at 400 yards on Aug. 3.