Los Alamitos Racecourse is found in Cypress, California and plays hosts to both thoroughbred and harness racing. A number of its harness races have purses of more than $1 million, which is higher than all other race tracks across the United States. There has been racing taking place at the Los Alamitos Racecourse since 1951.
Ticket Prices at Los Alamitos Racecourse
At the Los Alamitos Racecourse, you will get a general admission ticket for $3, with the Burgart’s admission being $5 and Clubhouse admission also being $5. If you want to get into the Vessels Club, it will cost you $10. There are senior days where people who are at least 62 years old will get $2 admission.
Course Details
There is a one-mile dirt track at the Los Alamitos Racecourse for thoroughbreds. The track for the harness racing is five-eighths of a mile and there is no turf track at the site.
Generally, the summer meeting at the Los Alamitos Racecourse will start at the end of June and last until mid-July. During the Los Angeles County Fair, there will be racing at Los Alamitos Racecourse, lasting for just over a couple of weeks in September. Finally, there is a winter meeting that takes place for ten days usually in December.
It was in 1995 that the Vessels Club opened, costing about $5 million. This was an exclusive turf club restaurant which has gardened much fame over the years. It had the distinction of being named as the best restaurant at a sports park in Southern California. There are a number of other restaurants and bars that make up the Los Alamitos Racecourse.
Track History: Key Dates
- Unofficial racing began at the Los Alamitos Racecourse in 1947 before the very first parimutuel meeting at the track took place in 1951. This saw eleven days of racing making up the meeting, ending on December 15.
- For ten of these eleven days, it was raining, so a lot of repairs had to be done throughout the event to ensure that the dirt track was able to host races. On the last day of racing during this inaugural meeting, a world record was set. This was in the Miss Princess Handicap where Bart B S set a 400-yard world record.
- After the initial meeting, the owners invested a further $100,000 into improving the track and sought 16 days of racing each year from the California Horse Racing Board. This was successfully granted and business was able to double the following season as a result of these moves.
- Up until the 1990s, the Los Alamitos Racecourse was under the ownership of the Vessels Family. However, there had been a number of different operators of the facility in the intervening years.
- It was in 1990 that the track went on sale. Dr Ed Allred bought a 50% stake in the facility.
- In 1995 that the Los Alamitos $2 million championship race began for two-year-olds. This saw the race in 2008 is the richest race in California history outside of the Breeder's Cup. This harness race was the only one nationwide that had a purse of a guaranteed $2 million.
- After Hollywood Park closed in 2013, there was an expansion at the Los Alamitos Racecourse that saw two thoroughbred-only race meetings taking place. The track was given an extension out to one mile and famed trainer Art Sherman relocated his training stables to the Los Alamitos Racecourse from Hollywood Park.
Biggest Races
With both harness racing and thoroughbred racing taking place at the Los Alamitos Racecourse, there is plenty of choice for bettors. There are some prestigious harness races that take place every year in particular.
The Los Alamitos $2 Million is a championship harness race that takes place every year at the Los Alamitos Racecourse. This is the only harness race in the country that has a guaranteed purse of $2 million. It is a race for two-year-olds and it has been the richest race in California outside of the Breeder’s Cup.
The Los Alamitos Super Derby is the richest harness race for three-year-olds nationwide.
The Starlet Stakes is the only Grade I race that currently takes place at the Los Alamitos Racecourse. The Great Lady M. Stakes and the Los Alamitos Futurity are a couple of Grade II races at the venue.
Place your bets with Roger.com
If you want to place bets on racing at Los Alamitos Racecourse, then there are a few different online betting sites that you can choose from. At Roger.com, each of the leading online racing betting sites has been handpicked and objectively reviewed. This means you do not need to do the hard work in researching these platforms, it has already been done for you.
