JOCKEY AND TRAINER TITLE AT LOS AL

Apprentice jockey Evin Roman earned his second consecutive Los Alamitos Race Course riding title, while training honors went to Doug O'Neill, as the Los Angeles County Fair meet concluded Sept. 24.

The 12-day season was highlighted by a record fourth local stakes success for Soi Phet, a stakes double for the trainer-jockey combination of Jeff Bonde and Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux with Princess Karen in the Beverly J. Lewis and Ismelucky in the Barretts Debutante, and a narrow score by heavily-favored Run Away in the Barretts Juvenile.


The 19-year-old Roman, who led Los Alamitos' July meet with 13 wins, finished the September meeting with 17 victories, five more than  Pena. Roman, who made his Southern California debut Feb. 9 at Santa Anita Park, earned his 100th win when he scored with first-time starter Meet and Greet for trainer Phil D'Amato Sept. 15 at Los Alamitos.

O'Neill finished with six victories, one more than Bonde and Molly Pearson. The title was the seventh O'Neill has either shared or won outright at Los Alamitos since daytime Thoroughbred racing returned in July of 2014. The title-clinching victory for O'Neill came in the eighth race Sunday, when multiple stakes winner Avanti Bello won an optional-claiming allowance.

Business figures for the fair meet will be available later this week. Thoroughbred racing will return to Los Alamitos Nov. 30 for the start of the 12-day winter meet.

Racing will be conducted on a Thursday-through-Sunday basis through Dec. 17. The season will be highlighted by a pair of grade 1 races for 2-year-olds—the $300,000 Starlet for fillies and the $300,000 Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity. Both will be run Dec. 9.