Three stakes – including a pair of graded events – worth $450,000 highlight the Summer Thoroughbred Festival at Los Alamitos.
The 12-day season will begin Thursday, June 28 and continue through Sunday, July 15.
Racing will be conducted on a Thursday-Sunday basis with one exception. There will be special holiday racing Wednesday, July 4 followed by a dark day (Thursday, July 5) before racing resumes Friday, July 6. Post time will be 1 p.m.
The richest event on the calendar is the $200,000-guaranteed Great Lady M. Stakes, a Grade II for fillies and mares (3-year-olds & up) at 6 ½ furlongs.
Named in honor of the multiple graded stakes winner trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, the Great Lady M., which will be run Saturday, July 7, is being presented for a fourth time during the Summer Thoroughbred Festival. The race was run during the Spring meet in 2016.
The five winners of the Great Lady M. at Los Alamitos are Doinghardtimeagain (2014), Fantastic Style (2015), Eclipse Award winner Finest City (2016) and the talented California bred Skye Diamonds a year ago.
The other graded race is the $150,000-guaranteed Los Alamitos Derby, a Grade III for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles.
The Derby, which will be offered Saturday, July 14, was captured a year ago by eventual 3-year-old champion West Coast. Six weeks after his victory in the Los Alamitos Derby, the son of Flatter, who is owned by Gary and Mary West and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, won the Grade I Travers at Saratoga by 3 ½ lengths.
Before West Coast, the other Los Alamitos Derby winners were Shared Belief (2014), Gimme Da Lute (2015) and Accelerate in 2016.
The other stakes on the schedule is the $100,000-guaranteed Bertrando for California breds (3-year-olds & up). Won by Ambitious Brew in 2017, the one-mile Bertrando will be run Wednesday, July 4.
The complete stakes schedule:
Wednesday, July 4 $100,000* Bertrando Stakes One Mile
3-Year-Olds & Up
(California bred or sired)
Saturday, July 7 Great Lady M. Stakes (Grade II) Six & One Half Furlongs $150,000*
3-Year-Olds & Up, Fillies & Mares
Saturday, July 14 Los Alamitos Derby (Grade III) 3-Year-Olds One & One Eighth Miles $200,000*
*Guaranteed
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