A Bleak Situation Suddenly Improves for Harness Racing

Call it the invasion of the victory snatchers.

They are dubbed Malvito, Great Provider, Admiral’s Rule, Vital and Finest Hour, to name a few. And they have combined market conditions on two continents that occupy terrain on opposite sides of the equator to bring success and profit for individuals on both sides of a buy-sell harness racing question.

No trade deficit here, and thanks to the purchase of Los Alamitos Race Course last fall by a group headed by Lloyd Arnold, longtime harness racing owner/breeder/promoter, spirit is soaring and the market continues to look ripe.

Standardbreds--that is, harness racing horses--have been imported from New Zealand and Australia for years, but the fever has been reborn with the suddenly optimistic outlook for the sport in California.

“We were close to extinction,” says Robert Gordon, among the leading trainers ont he California sulky circuit for nearly two decades. “It’s pretty hard to talk owners into spending money to import horses when the sport had such a bleak outlook.”

But that was then and this is now.

And sulky horsemen are looking anew at the New Zealand-Australia market for fresh four-footed performers to compete on a year-round California harness racing circuit.

The advantages? “You have a ready-made racehorse,” says Gordon. “It may be five or six weeks before they can start, but that beats buying at yearling sales and waiting maybe two years before you see if they can do anything. If they even make it to the races, that is.”

Shipping from “Down Under” costs approximately $5,000 per horse. “It’s really no big deal,” insists Australian native Ross Croghan, one of the leading drivers in California since coming stateside in 1974. “It’s a 12-hour flight and horses are quarantined 48 hours. If you get them from back east, it takes several hours to ship, doesn’t it?”

And, Crohan reminds, the American standardbred scene is one that is not a buyer’s market, east or west. Between Australia and New Zealand, the latter in particular, the buyer is king.

While the two islands that comprise New Zealand possess rich soil and sod that horses thrive on, racing opportunities are limited. There are no claiming races in New Zealand, and horses are forced to move up the class ladder when they do win.

Many horses hit a wall at some point, and are stuck at that level. That is, unless Australian or American interests come to the rescue.

In fact, thoroughbreds and standardbreds are New Zealand’s second leading export, trailing only wool.

“Not only is it a buyer’s market down there, the availability of horses has reached a critical stage in this country,” says Crohan. “We’re not the only ones buying these horses, either. Horsemen back east also are in the market. Sometimes they buy from us after we’ve raced them awhile.

“As long as the owners make money, they’re happy. And they’ll usually want another one to replace the one someone else buys from them.”

Local horsemen deal with agents in the lands Down Under. “They make a commission, but they earn it,” says Gordon. “If they see us--Yankees, they call us--the price goes up. It’s much better to use someone you know and trust down there.”

As with anything else in horse racing, or any other business for that matter, there are downsides.

“There are a lot of horses down there that are available. I compare it to used cars,” says Gordon. “Lots of horses, but yo uhave to select the right ones. And although we think we cover the bases, there’s just no way to know until you race them here.”

And almost all imports, sooner or later, come down with respiratory viruses.

Horses in the southenr hemisphere are heavily quarantined, which is good for the animals as youngsters, but not so good for future owners in another racing jurisdiction.

“It may take them a month, a year, or two years,” says Croghan. “But just about all of them will catch a virus. They’ve never been around such a thing, never built up an immune system to it.”

To illustrate how strict the quarantine is “Down Under”, merely compare the standard 48-hour lockup period for horses entering this country with the 30-day sentence for those going the other way. That’s for racing or breeding.

The game is similar in the two continents, although some harness racing there is conducted on grass. Most use the mobile starting gate, behind which all imported horses must start and meet a minimum qualifying standard in a non-betting race before being allowed to start in a pari-mutuel event in the U.S.

Races are usually longer than the mile events predominant in this country, so horsemen are looking for horses suited to the comparative sprint called for in this country.

Some are quick studies. “I have a horse named Great Provider, who had only been here two weeks before he went out and won,” said Paul Blumenfeld, one of the leading trainers on the California sulky circuit. “But each horse is different and you have to treat them as individuals.”

Easily distinguished in the racing program by the designation “N” (for New Zealand-breds) and “A” (Australian-breds), they are putting a smile on the face of Los Alamitos Racing Director Fred Kuebler. Of the 1300 horses on the grounds, approximately 20 percent are from Down Under.

And, for New Zealanders at least, racing opportunities abound like they never did back home.

Horses, beside being eligible to enter claiming raes here, are classified in division starting at C-4, just above maidens (nonwinners) to A-1 (just below invitational class, the premier pacers and trotters on the grounds).

“We’re not looking for monsters,” says Croghan. “But there’s such a need for horses to fill the other races. And they have the horses available. Simple as that.”

The cost for such horses is approximately in the $10,000-$40,00 range. But it’s more than an occasional New Zealander or Australian that turns “monster” once it reaches U.S. shores.

A recent case in point is the New Zealand mare Admiral’s Rule, who made her American debut Jan. 12. All she did that night was blow away her opposition in 1:55 2/5, the second-fastest mile ever paced by a distaffer at Los Alamitos.

Set To Go, an Australian mare, has made a successful invasion and is destined to appear in the filly and mare invitational ranks, where she’ll encounter Admiral’s Rule.

The former is trained by Joe Anderson, who also drove the mare to her initial stunning triumph. Anderson, a multiple driving and training champion during the past decade at Los Alamitos, was one of those ready to leave the sport for greener pastures before the purchase of Los Alamitos by Arnold et al helped lure him back into the sulky fold.

Anderson’s temporary departure was understandable with the state harness industry facing at best--an uncertain future. Now, his return also is typical of the times and optimism in California that has a distinct Down Under carryover flavor.