COUNTYWIDE : Fair Board Delays Action on Racing

Orange County Fair Board directors this week delayed acting on a recommendation to discontinue thoroughbred horse racing during the fair, fearing that such a step would shut the door on local racing permanently.

A three-member fair board committee had called for a halt to the annual 18-day Orange County Horse Racing Fair at Los Alamitos Race Course after it lost about $200,000 in revenue last year, when attendance and wagering slumped.

At their meeting in Costa Mesa on Thursday, fair board directors tabled action until April 6 in order to evaluate economic conditions and consult with horse owners.

The Orange County Fair, which does not have a track at the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, offers about two weeks of racing each summer at Los Alamitos, about 16 miles away.

If it decides to drop the event, the Fair Board would need state legislation should it want to get back into racing, and that could be a big hurdle, Orange County Fair spokeswoman Jill Lloyd said.

Fair board director Clint Hoose, who asked to delay the decision, said the Orange County Fair racing meet traditionally has been “very good for the fair and very good for California.” He predicted that the state economy will improve and that horse racing will probably make a comeback in Orange County, but not at the Orange County Horse Racing Fair if the fair board votes to discontinue it.

The fair board first leased facilities at the Los Alamitos course in 1977, and around that time, crowds of about 15,000 would frequently bet more than $2 million a day. In 1980, the fair meet set single-day records of 17,825 for attendance and $3 million for wagers.

Last year, though, betting pools sometimes dipped below $1 million, and the fair board lost money.

The total income for horse racing in 1991 was $1,859,356, but expenses came to $2,119,120.

Officials blame the decline on an increase in horse racing events, a growing number of satellite off-site betting facilities and the slow economy.

The Orange County Racing Fair is scheduled to run July 27 through Aug. 15.