Kindergarten Race for $600,000 Is Wide Open : There’s No Standout This Year in the First Leg of Los Alamitos’ Triple Crown Series

Each year, the $600,000 Kindergarten, the first leg of Los Alamitos’ Triple Crown series, serves as the major stakes debut for the top 2-year-old quarter horses in the country.

And in each of the last two years, there has been one equine sensation that went off as the overwhelming favorite. In 1983, it was Tolltac. Last year, it was Eastex.

This year?

This year, it’s anyone’s guess.

This summer’s 2-year-olds are not proven stakes contenders. There’s no undefeated champion, such as Tolltac, the 1983 champion 2-year-old colt and 1984 champion 3-year-old, who has earnings of more than $1.1 million. There’s no powerhouse runner, such as Eastex, the 1984 champion 2-year-old gelding, who has 10 wins in 14 starts and more than $1.5 million in earnings.

Instead, tonight’s Triple Crown feature is a wide-open field, for the oddsmakers and betting public.

“This field should be as competitive as we’ve ever had for the Kindergarten,” said racing secretary Ron Church. “We won’t have horses who have received a lot of publicity, like a Tolltac or an Eastex, but we should be pretty well balanced.”

The Triple Crown series, the richest for 2-year-olds on the West Coast, also includes the Dash For Cash Futurity July 13 and the Los Alamitos Futurity Aug. 10. Both will carry estimated purses of $1 million. In the four-year history of the Triple Crown, no horse has ever swept all three legs.

McGhan Farms’ Call Me Parr looks to be one of tonight’s favorites, after winning the Bardella Handicap May 24 in a time of 17.75 seconds, the fastest clocking registered by a 2-year-old at Los Alamitos this season. Since the brown gelding was not nominated to the Kindergarten, trainer Lon McGhan paid the $11,700 supplemental fee to enter him.

“He bought his ticket (to the Kindergarten) tonight with that performance,” McGhan said after the Bardella victory.

McGhan may find his $11,700 money well spent. Last year’s Kindergarten winner, Real Easy Chick, was a supplemental entry and defeated the favored Eastex in the 350-yard feature.

But, Call Me Parr was less than impressive in his trials, finishing third (17.91) behind Racin Image (17.80) and Life Styles (17.84). Life Styles, one of two entries trained by Blane Schvaneveldt, won the West Texas Futurity at Sunland Park in March but finished second to Stars In Her Crown in the Leo Handicap in May. The filly, owned by R.D. Hubbard & G.W. Stowe, has earnings of $73,000--the second-richest horse in the race.

In the Kindergarten trials and the Leo, Stars In Her Crown, the second-leading qualifier, has shown that she will be tough to beat. A daughter of Easy Jet, Stars In Her Crown has won three of six lifetime starts and has more than $48,000 in earnings, making the sorrel filly the third-richest horse in tonight’s race.

Stars In Her Crown is trained by Bruce Bell, who has started only two horses at the summer meeting. Bell’s other horse, Universal Miss, also went in the trials but failed to qualify.

The richest horse in the Kindergarten, Solvency, has more than $94,500 in earnings with victories in three of his four starts. Solvency’s only loss was a second-place finish in the Bay Meadows Futurity.

Although Gone To The Man, the fastest qualifier at 17.74 seconds, has won two of three starts, he has never run in a stakes. But Gone To The Man, a son of two-time world champion Dash For Cash, proved he was a stakes-caliber runner in the trials, holding off Stars In Her Crown and Schvaneveldt’s other Kindergarten entry, Reign Splash, for the victory.

Besides Gone To The Man, trainer C.W. (Bubba) Cascio, who has never won the Kindergarten, has three horses in the race--Racin Image, Dashin Saint and Six Fortunes. Six Fortunes was the first 2-year-old to break the 18-second mark this season at Los Alamitos with a 17.99 effort. Dashin Saint, another Dash For Cash colt, has not won a race in three starts, but has held on to finish second in two races.

Aside from Easy Jet, Dash For Cash is the dominant stallion in quarter horse racing, known widely for siring outstanding fillies. He has sired 16 Kindergarten starters in the last five years, among them Dash Again, who won the race in 1981.

Although Real Easy Chick, Tolltac and Sail On Bunny have given colts and geldings three Kindergarten victories in three years, the winners have usually been fillies. Colts and geldings have won only seven times in 22 runnings. Fillies have won 4 of the last 7 and 11 of the last 16.

Tonight, the filly lineup includes Stars In Her Crown with jockey John Creager; Life Styles, Jerry Nicodemus; Reign Splash, Kenny Hart; and Fly In The Pie, Donald Knight.

The colts and geldings are Gone To The Man, Bruce Pilkenton; Racin Image, John Ward; Solvency, Danny Mitchell; Dashin Saint, James Lackey; Six Fortunes, Danny Cardoza; and Call Me Parr, Greg Gift.