Los Alamitos Racecourse Sold to Sacramento Harness Group

Hollywood Park Realty officially announced the sale of Los Alamitos Racecourse to a harness-racing interest group from Sacramento. The group, headed by Lloyd Arnold, Cal Racing Expo Assn. president, paid a reported $71 million for the 297 acres, which includes a golf course and undeveloped land.

Joining Arnold in the venture are Buzz Oates, one of the leading builders of commercial and industrial buildings in Sacramento, attorney Chris Bardis and developer Frank Ramos. The group says it hopes to rebuild the golf course and develop some of the land.

“Nothing is settled, but we hope to run 23 or 24 weeks each of both harness and quarter horses,” Bardis said from his law office in Sacramento. “We’re striving for parity and we’re hoping that the quarter-horse people will cooperate.

“If we don’t get cooperation, it will only become a factor for the next 10 years of the property (which is when a quarter horse lease on the property runs out).”

Cooperation doesn’t appear likely. Ed Allred, who also headed a group that offered to buy the track and is president of the Horseman’s Quarter Horse Racing Assn., expects litigation before the issue is settled.

“What we do depends on what they say they will do for us,” Allred said. “It could be done peaceably but I suspect it will not be that way. Under an agreement with Hollywood Park we were entitled to 30 weeks of racing and there is no way we will ever accept anything less than that. We have a lot of options, even if that means running at another track.”

The HQHRA has a lease with Hollywood Park that extended to 2002.

Bardis said there would be no major improvements in the physical state of the facility until racing at the track becomes profitable.

Bob Forgnone, an attorney representing Hollywood Park, said the track will now attempt to reduce what remains of the $100 million debt. He said two options available to the track were the selling of property near the Inglewood track or through a public stock offering.