Allred Backs Out of Los Alamitos Plan

Ed Allred, the owner of Los Alamitos Race Course, said Friday that he was no longer interested in participating in a move to thoroughbred racing at his quarter horse track, but he left the door open for other investors to possibly race the breed there.

“I’ve pulled out,” said Allred, who in mid-March had joined with Mike Pegram, a prominent thoroughbred owner, to announce that Los Alamitos hoped to add thoroughbreds to its schedule. “I’m not going to be a part of the rebuilding, if there is any, and I’m not going after the Hollywood Park racing dates.”

Many industry leaders have welcomed the intended infusion of money from Pegram, a fast-food restaurant magnate from Arizona who said he was prepared to spend $40 million in reconfiguring Los Alamitos so that it might race thoroughbreds. Hollywood Park, which opened its spring-summer season Friday night, has been rumored to be for sale, although its owner, Kentucky-based Churchill Downs Inc., has been reluctant to comment.

The Allred-Pegram plan was to expand Los Alamitos’ main track, add a turf course and dozens of new barns, and then seek thoroughbred racing dates from the California Horse Racing Board. Those dates, which currently permit Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Del Mar and Fairplex Park in Pomona to race year-round in Southern California, are granted to the tracks on an annual basis.

“I’m almost 69 years old, and at this stage I just can’t see jeopardizing an asset that’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” Allred said.

“The plan Mike and I had made sense in a lot of ways, but I would be into my 70s before any of this would have seen the light of day, in 2007 or 2008.”

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Pat Valenzuela, leading rider at the Santa Anita meet that ended Monday, was unseated by his mount, Nemo’s Lucky Fin, just after the start of Friday’s fourth race and was taken to Centinela Hospital.

X-rays of his left knee were negative but Valenzuela will not ride Sort It Out in a Kentucky Derby prep race today at Keeneland.