The Quarter-Horse Kid : Kip Didericksen, 20, Leads Way Tonight in Start of Historic Hollywood Park Meeting

When Kip Didericksen was 17, which was not that long ago, he was riding quarter horses in meccas like Le Bois Park, the Flathead Fairgrounds and the Cow Capital Turf Club.

That was in 1983. By late 1984, Didericksen, the son of a retired trainer who has become a racing official in Boise, Ida., knew he wasn’t in the sport’s big leagues.

“The guys around me at those small tracks were all struggling,” Didericksen said. “I decided to try California. If I couldn’t ride there, then I’d think about doing something else for a living.”

Didericksen has never had to think about doing something else. Since coming to California, he has won two seasonal riding championships at Los Alamitos and one at Bay Meadows.

In June, because jockey Robbie Bard had suffered a broken back, Didericksen got the mount on Corporate Bug, an escapee from the claiming ranks, and they teamed to win the $542,022 Rainbow Derby at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. It was 20-year-old rider’s first victory in a major race.

Going into late June, Didericksen had rolled up $500,000 in purses, putting him fourth on the national money list behind such established riders as John Craeger, Danny Cordoza and Kenny Hart.

Starting tonight, Kip Didericksen--he wasn’t given his first name until a few days after he got home from the hospital, and mainly because his mother couldn’t think of anything else--will be trying to add another California title to his resume. Hollywood Park’s first quarter-horse season, marking the first time a full meeting of the sport has been offered in Los Angeles County, will open at 7:30 with an 11-race program, and Didericksen will be riding in all 11.

There are enough big purses during Hollywood’s 53-night season, topped by the estimated $950,000 Dash for Cash Futurity Aug. 23 and the $800,000 Denim N Diamonds Futurity Oct. 3, for Didericksen to continue his climb up the money tree.

The Hollywood season, which runs through Oct. 4, will feature racing from Wednesday through Sunday, with a 4:30 p.m. Labor Day program Sept. 1. The first post Wednesday through Saturday will be 7:30 p.m., and Sunday cards will start at 5:30. There will be 11-race programs on Fridays, Saturdays and Labor Day and 10 races on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

It is not unusual for Didericksen to ride the entire card. In fact, he and his agent, Maury Rosener, sometimes get four and five calls for a race, then must pick the horse that looks the best. Didericksen usually makes the final decision.

Those decisions were good enough for 74 wins at the recently completed summer season at Los Alamitos. The next jockey in the standings, James Lackey, had 57 wins. Didericksen rode in 433 races, about 100 more than anybody else.

“I’ve done well because of hard work, being honest and treating people right,” Didericksen. “I don’t turn down anybody’s horse if I’m not riding anything else.”

Didericksen’s entree to California racing was Johnny Ward, a veteran Los Alamitos jockey. Ward is a friend of Duayne Didericksen, Kip’s father.

As it happened, it was when Ward received a five-day suspension from the stewards that Didericksen got his break. Ward had been riding for trainer Dennis Ekins, and while the jockey was grounded, Ekins turned to Didericksen.

“I started lighting up the board with a few of those horses,” Didericksen said. “People began to notice.”

Didericksen stands 5 feet 9 1/2 inches, tall for a jockey, and weighs 117 pounds, a weight he has to watch.

“When I gallop horses in the mornings, I can eat what I want and I don’t have to get into the sweat box before the races at night,” Didericksen said. “It’s when I take a few days off (such as for a recent vacation to see his parents in Boise) that I have a tendency to gain.”

Didericksen, who doesn’t drink or smoke, said he wasn’t nervous about riding Corporate Bug in the Rainbow Futurity. The race was 440 yards, which like most quarter-horse races doesn’t give the jockey time to recover if there’s an early problem.

“I’ve got no wife, no bills to pay that amount to anything,” Didericksen said. “There’s no reason for me to get nervous.”

Didericksen won races for more than 30 trainers in taking his second Los Alamitos title. One of them, Blane Schvaneveldt, is called “the king” by Didericksen, and for good reason--Schvaneveldt has led the Los Alamitos summer season 11 straight times.

Tonight, in the $30,000 Chicado V Handicap, Schvaneveldt has given the mount on Dash in Style to Didericksen.

The favorite in the six-horse race, however, will be another of Schvaneveldt’s horses, Cash Rate. Last year’s world champion, the equivalent of horse of the year, Cash Rate was upset at 2-5 odds in the Los Alamitos Championship July 5.

Schvaneveldt saddled the first four finishers in the nine-horse field, with Easy Conversation, Go Partner, Cash Rate and Dash in Style crossing the finish line in that order.

Easy Conversation is also in the field tonight. He still won’t be the favorite, but should he surprise again, the 5-year-old gelding won’t pay as well as he did at Los Alamitos. Easy Conversation was 35-1 that night.