Track’s Allred Sees Better Days Ahead

Majority owner Edward C. Allred, although concerned about another 7% drop in on-track handle, nonetheless called the 1996 meeting at Los Alamitos Race Course a success and predicted even better campaigns over the next two years.

Allred, who owns 75% of the track, spent $12.5 million in refurbishing the 46-year-old complex in hopes of attracting new gamblers. While he expects income from satellite wagering to increase slightly over last year, he said the sharp decline in on-track betting was a shock.

“California racing everywhere has been very soft since September,” Allred said. “We don’t quite know what to think of it, whether it was just the time of the season or that it was just after the Olympics.

“It wasn’t a devastating drop, but it was not what we were looking for.”

Record warm weather last spring was credited with pushing the on-track handle up more than 2%, making the overall decline even more perplexing.

But Allred pointed to several improvements that paid dividends. He was most pleased with the performance of the Vessels Club, an upscale restaurant that initially drew grumbles from horsemen because the dress code required jackets for men.

Allred also was generally pleased with other refurbishments that spiffed up the interior and exterior of the building. Still left is a $1.5 million resurfacing of the main parking lot and completion of several cosmetic changes. A sports bar may also be added, Allred said.

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Allred’s first attempt at harness racing begins Thursday when his newly formed Los Alamitos Harness Racing Assn. begins a 59-day meeting, replacing the meeting that the California Harness Racing Assn. ran for several years.

Races will be run Thursdays through Sundays until April 6. The first two Thursday programs have first post at 6:15 p.m. Beginning Jan. 2, first post on Thursdays will be 7:15. All Friday first posts will be 7:15 p.m., and all Saturday and Sunday first posts are 6:15.

An average of one stakes race is expected to be run each night, with the $160,000 Arnold Pacing Series the featured event of the meeting. There’s $100,000 at stake in the Arnold final on April 4. The stakes schedule also includes the $240,000 Sires Stakes, a series of 20 races, and the Electioneer Futurity, which consists of four races. The $48,000 Breeders Championship Series and the $48,000 California Gold Cup Series also are planned.

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What’s the going price for a championship horse?

How about two pigs, a couple of calves and an old dog?

That’s what Manuel Garcia of Houston paid for Kool Kue Baby, who ran in the $300,000 Champion of Champions Sunday.

Garcia was visiting a friend in Mexico when he took a liking to the mare. Garcia and his friend talked, then shook hands on the price, which turned out to be the bargain of bargains. Kool Kue Baby won seven of her nine starts coming into the Champion of Champions and earned $304,121.

It wasn’t quite that way for Winalota Cash, but owners Jamie and Andra Meridyth of Odessa, Texas, traded two geldings and kicked in another $6,000 to purchase the 3-year-old gelding when he was just a weanling. Winalota Cash was named 1995 world champion, only the eighth time a 2-year-old has won the prestigious title. Before this year’s Champion of Champions, Winalota Cash had won eight of 10 races this season and 15 of 21 overall.

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Jockey Billy Peterson, the regular rider aboard Winalota Cash, plans to retire after only one campaign at Los Alamitos, his wife, Angie, confirmed.

Peterson, 24, came West this year after riding several meetings at Ruidoso Downs Race Course in New Mexico when he was attending the University of Texas El Paso. He works part time in a Long Beach stock brokerage office and has a bachelor’s degree with a major in business. He recently received state certification as a full-fledged stock broker and has been offered a full-time job with his current company.

Peterson has long contended that riders hang on too long rather than plan ahead for career changes. He has also said that he believes he will never find a better mount than Winalota Cash.

“He’s been doing this a long time [professionally about 10 years] and he’s just tired of it,” Angie Peterson said. “There’s a lot that goes into working in the horse business that most people don’t see. It is a very demanding job.”

The couple plans to eventually return to their native Utah.

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A study paid for by the American Horse Council Foundation says the U.S. horse racing industry provides more than 330,000 full-time jobs and has a net value of goods and services for the country’s economy estimated at $25.3 billion a year.

The year-long analysis discovered more than seven million people are involved in the horse-racing industry. That includes horse owners, service providers, employers and volunteers. There are nearly seven million horses competing at different levels in the United States. More than 600 people are employed at Los Alamitos, according to Allred, and another 900 or so work in the barns behind the track.

“The study validates what we in the horse industry have long known,” said James J. Hickey Jr., president of the American Horse Council. “The American horse industry is a huge and economically productive business.”

By way of comparison, horse racing equals the apparel and motion picture industries in terms of revenue generated from goods and services.

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Stylus’ long losing streak came to an end Dec. 14, when the 4-year-old full brother to champion Florentine won the $12,000 El Ocho Setenta Overnight Handicap.

Perhaps it wasn’t the biggest purse on record, but owner Dennis Jensen will take it. It had been nearly two years since Stylus last won--a stretch of 21 starts. It was the fourth victory in 29 races for Stylus, who was ridden by Eddie Garcia and trained by Charles Treece.

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The last time out, Sandungas Kid finished eighth in a $12,500 claiming race, his seventh consecutive race without a victory. So it was no surprise that he was sent off as a 90-1 longshot in the recent $20,000 Josie’s Bar Handicap for 3-year-olds. The Texas-bred colt, ridden by Alex Bautista, sprinted to victory in the 550-yard race, returning a season-high $191.70 for a $2 bet.

Trained by Connie Hall and owned by Gilberto Hernandez, Sandungas Kid won four of his first five starts of the season before falling on hard times. His best finish until the Josie’s was second place in the South Western Derby at Rillito Park in Arizona.

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Jen S. List, 57, a long-time quarter horse owner and California breeder, died Nov. 28 of cancer. List ranked ninth in 1995 among leading quarter horse breeders in the nation. His horses won 46 races and $333,408 over his career. He was owner of Sonic Industries, which makes airplane parts.

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Jockey Carlos Cristo begins serving a 15-day suspension Dec. 26 after pulling up his mount with a lap to go in the 1 1/2-mile $25,050 Arabian Marathon last Friday. Cristo held an easy lead aboard Finito-Finisz, a 15-1 longshot, when he became confused and crossed the finish line with a lap to go on the 5/8-mile oval. He said later that he thought he had won and was unaware that the marathon includes two times around the track, as well as the stretch start. Stewards timed the suspension with the opening of racing at Santa Anita. Shallimar Nabu, with jockey Gary Boag aboard, won the race, its 11th victory of the meeting.