Track Official Suggests Betting Facility at Marine Base

When the Cypress City Council recently opposed construction of a horse racing track at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Los Alamitos Race Course officials were caught completely off guard.

They hailed the council’s efforts but had no idea that a track in El Toro was even under consideration.

“I’ve heard everything under the sun for the use of that site, but I am personally unaware of any kind of proposal to build a race track for live horse racing at El Toro. It caught me totally by surprise,” Los Alamitos General Manager Dick Feinberg said.

Cypress acted after the county revealed that a race track was one of the alternatives it is considering for part of the base after it closes.

City officials fear such a facility would cut into taxes collected at Los Alamitos, one of the largest revenue sources in Cypress.

Feinberg said a better idea would be an off-track betting facility at El Toro, which would be less expensive to build.

“The days of building racing emporiums in Southern California are over,” Feinberg said. An off-track betting facility would import television signals via satellite from around the world, including those from Los Alamitos.

No such facility now exists in Orange County, Feinberg said. To bet on Los Alamitos races, people in southern Orange County have to drive into San Diego County to Del Mar Race Track or over the foothills to satellite wagering facilities at Lake Perris or the Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino.

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The Los Alamitos-based Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Assn. is surveying its membership to determine how to deal with a new breeding technique that some horsemen say will change the way they do business.

Stallion owners and breeding farms throughout the country are dealing with the use of cooled semen to fertilize mares, a method that will be introduced into the quarter horse industry next year. The American Quarter Horse Assn. approved its use nationwide at its March meeting, but did not recommend how states should regulate its use.

Other states appear to be watching how California deals with the issue before they proceed.

The Pacific Coast group has formed a task force on the issue chaired by highly respected breeder Frank Vessels III. The association is contacting its membership by mail this week.

Among other things, the use of cooled semen is expected to cause turmoil in determining the registry of a foal that is the offspring of horses from different states.

Pacific Coast President Dominic “Bud” Alessio said the task force is recommending that foals born to California mares from an out-of-state stallion, or a foal conceived by a California stallion to an out-of-state mare be declared Cal Bred, as long as either parent is registered in California.

Cal Bred horses are the only ones allowed to run in certain state stakes races, which are highly popular events because the purses are generally larger than those in other states.

Alessio scoffs at those who think such breeding will water down the Cal Bred image.

“It will make more horses eligible to race as Cal Bred,” Alessio said. “Thus in theory, the handle and percentage [of purses] goes up. Everyone will be getting a little more piece of the pie.”

When cooled to about the same temperature as in a refrigerator, stallion semen has an extended life of about 24 hours, which enables the sample to be transported to the location of the mare, which is then artificially inseminated.

Los Alamitos Notes

The Weiner Nationals, a charity event that featured a dachshunds race, increased attendance at Los Alamitos to a season-high 6,500 Saturday. That’s about 3,000 more than the average nightly crowd. The crowd was even more surprising because no major stakes races were held that night. . . . Trainer Donna McArthur got her first stakes victory when Dashing Folly, an 8-1 choice, won the $20,000 Town Policy Handicap last Friday by a length over Jettin For Royalty. La Primera Del Ano Derby winner Better Bet on Me, one of the favorites, was left at the gate but was able to finish third. Jockey Tami Purcell was aboard the winner, which was making its first start at the track. . . . The 1994 World Champion quarter horse, Down With Debt, is working out at Los Alamitos in anticipation of a comeback. Trainer Charlie Bloomquist is trying to decide if the 6-year-old mare will run again. “Before Down With Debt runs we want to make sure that she can run in relatively the same company she faced during her best campaigns,” Bloomquist said. Down With Debt has been idle since November. . . . The $57,344 California Sires Cup Derby is scheduled Saturday night. . . . Thoroughbred jockeys Kent Desormeaux, Gary Stevens, Corey Nakatani and Russell Baze are expected to ride against quarter horse counterparts Joe Badilla, Eddie Garcia, Roman Figueroa and Kip Didericksen on June 29 in a series of races called the “All-Star Jockey Challenge.” The event, which benefits the Don MacBeth Fund for disabled riders, pits the jockeys in a pair of quarter horse races.