Allred Seems to Have Harnessed a Winner

Some saw it as a gamble last year when Los Alamitos Race Course majority owner Edward C. Allred chose to run his harness racing program after years of contracting the winter meeting to an outside vendor.

Give my program time, Allred said. It will grow.

Despite some criticism from the harness racing industry, Allred and Co. appear to be correct. Opening night Dec. 26 brought in a total handle of $1,206,767, a nearly 33% increase over last year’s opening.

“I think our [harness racing] handle numbers show the support that harness racing has in California when the public can wager on full fields and competitive racing,” said Rick Henson, track manager. “We had solid on-track numbers and the entire night was outstanding.”

The meeting lasts until April 5. But there were some who predicted that Los Alamitos would not be able to fill its nightly harness racing card.

Henson points out that the first night of racing had a 15-race card and an additional four races were available for betting via satellite. The track is working hard to maintain those numbers, he said.

Henson also was pleased with the total on-track handle on the first night. Those are bets placed by people who were actually present at the track during racing. On-track handle was up 22% from the total average handle of a year ago. In recent years, the on-track handle has fallen a poor second behind satellite wagering at race tracks around the country.

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The good news about the harness opening comes on the heels of mixed results of the 142-night quarter horse meeting.

True, the quarter horse meeting was the richest in track history, as far as purses go. But on-track handle and attendance trailed 1996 record highs.

Nightly average attendance dropped 9.7% to just 2,010 and the slide is expected to continue further this year as more and more bettors prefer to place wagers in satellite parlors closer to their homes.

In keeping with his promise, Allred announced several purse increases during the quarter horse meeting and that helped attract enough horses to fill out most races with full fields. The running of the $1,181,310 Los Alamitos Million, won by the Donna McArthur-trained This Snow Is Royal, marked the richest race in track history. McArthur took home a record $466,524 for the effort.

But overall, the on-track nightly handle dipped 4% to $326,326 and in-state satellite wagering was down 6.65% to a nightly average of $572,092. The average nightly handle slipped 8.35% to $339,925.

Track officials point out that a lawsuit that prohibited satellite signals from California tracks from being sent to Nevada casinos contributed to most of the overall revenue decline. Nevada provided the second-largest take in the nation for Los Alamitos, a track spokesman said.

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McArthur, who began training full time in 1995, became the first trainer to saddle a winner in both the Million Futurity and the All-American Futurity. Corona Cash took the All-American at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico on Labor Day. McArthur also sent off the 1996 and 1995 runner-ups to the Los Alamitos Million, Our Liquidator and Temerity Wrangler.

“I guess the third time was the charm for me,” McArthur said. “It feels awesome to win this race because that was one of my major goals at the beginning of the year.”

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Ballots for 1997 World Champion horse and horseman awards have been sent out and the 5-year-old gelding SLM Big Daddy seems to have the edge after winning the Champion of Champions by posting the second best time (21.20 seconds) in the history of the 440-yard race.

About half a dozen quarter horses are in the running, however.

Corona Cash seemed like a good candidate, but the McArthur-trained 2-year-old filly finished sixth in the Million. Dashing Folly, the 1996 world champion, fell out of contention with a fourth-place finish in the Champion of Champions. This Snow Is Royal probably will receive some attention after setting a record of 19.67 seconds in the 400-yard Million victory.

In the Champion Trainer category, McArthur is among a field that includes Los Alamitos champion Blane Schvaneveldt and Paul C. Jones. Jones and Schvaneveldt had 101 winners each among all breeds racing at Los Alamitos. Schvaneveldt has won 12 consecutive national training titles.

The Champion Jockey balloting includes Eddie Garcia, who set a Los Alamitos record of 174 quarter horses victories (175 wins overall), veteran G.R. Carter and Joe Badilla, who finished second to Garcia in total Los Alamitos wins with 174.

The 75-members of the American Quarter Horse Racing Assn. Racing Committee, plus seven selected members of the media vote in 10 categories.

The results will be released Jan. 22.

Notes

The harness meeting includes five key series: the Los Alamitos Distaff Pace, the Richard Staley Trot, the Fireball Pacing Series, the Rising Star Pacing Series and the largest of the group, the Arnold Pacing Series. The first leg of the Fireball is Feb. 6. The Rising Star opens the following night. Both are set for three legs in all. The $100,000 Arnold opens March 13 and runs the last of four legs April 3.