Los Alamitos Meeting to Include $1.3-Million Race

The marathon that is the Los Alamitos quarter horse meeting begins tonight with an 11-race program.

From this evening until Dec. 20, quarter horse, thoroughbred and Arabians will be running on a Thursday-Sunday basis. In all, the meeting will run 142 nights. The first live post tonight is 7:15.

The opening-night feature is the $15,000 Kaweah Bar Handicap, which is run at 350 yards and will be run in two divisions.

In the first division, which goes as the ninth race, Showoff Alibi is the 2-1 favorite on Ed Burgart’s morning line.

Joe Badilla, who finished one behind Eddie Garcia in the jockey standings here last year, losing 175-174, will ride Showoff Alibi for owners James Azevedo and Charles Boyles and trainer Paul Jones.

History could be made this evening by trainer Connie Hall, who has five horses--including four first-time starters--entered tonight.

If she wins twice, Hall will become the first woman to saddle 500 winners at Los Alamitos and only the 10th trainer to reach that figure.

Hall is scheduled to send out Cash Topper, who is 8-1 on the morning line in the sixth, Thats What Im Saying, who is 4-1, in the eighth, Debuts Effort, at 6-1, in the 10th, 12-1 shot Cashin Man in the second division of the Kaweah Bar and 2-year-old maiden Yuubadash in the 12th. Only Cashin Man has raced before.

The Los Alamitos calendar is topped by the $1.3-million Los Alamitos Futurity, the richest race for any breed that will be run in California this year, on Dec. 19.