HORSE RACING : Decision on Hansen Still Pending

The Ron Hansen appeal was not a part of the California Horse Racing Board’s meeting Friday, because the hearing referee was still going over the transcripts, but the case of the outcast jockey was nevertheless on the minds of many of the racing executives who attended.

In the hallway of a hotel in Monrovia, a host of officials from Golden Gate Fields and Ladbroke, the London bookmaking concern which operates the track, fretted about the delay in the Hansen matter. Golden Gate, which first banned Hansen from riding Feb. 5, is attempting to prove that the Bay Area’s leading jockey bribed other riders to manipulate races.

For a couple of reasons, Golden Gate’s officials are getting nervous about the outcome. First of all, the hearing a week ago didn’t appear to go their way. Secondly, the jockeys at Golden Gate, who almost to a rider support Hansen, have been getting restless. There was talk Friday morning that they might put Golden Gate on 15-day notice, walking out if Hansen wasn’t reinstated.

Later Friday, Taylor Powell, a representative for the Jockeys’ Guild, dispelled that possibility. “Hansen has chosen to go the route of the courts and the racing board with his appeal,” Powell said. “We’re waiting for him to explore those avenues to the fullest.”

Golden Gate had hoped that the racing board would rule on Hansen’s appeal before his next court appearance on Tuesday. But referee Ben Felton, who is weighing seven hours of testimony, won’t deliver an opinion to the board until midweek, and it’ll be another week before the board either ratifies or rejects that opinion.

“That’s a strange system,” said James Basin, Hansen’s lawyer. “A man is picked by the board to oversee a hearing, and then what he decides won’t necessarily be accepted by seven people (the board) who didn’t even attend the hearing.”

When Hansen was named to ride a horse in the San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita two weeks ago, the Arcadia track appeared to be backing up Golden Gate by also telling the jockey he wasn’t welcome. Given a choice, Golden Gate probably would have preferred that Hansen had ridden at Santa Anita. If Basin ever sues for damages, being banned by more than one track might strengthen the case.

“We’re not thinking about damages right now,” Basin said. “Our major concern is getting this jockey back on the track.”

One Golden Gate official practically apologized for putting Santa Anita in a ticklish position. “Sending a jockey down the road is never the perfect way to handle a problem,” he said. “Because then other tracks might be asked to pick up the burden.”

Richard Craigo, the attorney who represents 13 harness drivers who say they have been wrongfully prevented from competing at Los Alamitos, made reference to the Hansen case while arguing before the racing board Friday.

“One jockey (Hansen) gets an immediate hearing,” Craigo said. “It’s discouraging to my clients that they haven’t been able to drive in races since November and nothing has been done. This action is allowing a race track to become the ultimate licensing authority. A meat ax was used on these drivers overnight. The (racing board’s) licensing committee should have taken taken jurisdiction in this as soon as it started.”

According to Craigo, 201 drivers are licensed in California, but about 150 have been disqualified because they don’t meet Los Alamitos standards, which require that a driver have been in a minimum of 130 races in the last two years and has won at least 8% of them.

“Not one of these 150 has done anything wrong,” Craigo said. “But the public has the perception that this has something to do with race fixing. Not only has their livelihood been taken away, but they’ve also lost their reputations.”

Craig disputes figures supplied by Los Alamitos that say his 13 clients earned only $7,000 driving horses in the last two years.

“We want truly professional drivers at our track, and we want to improve the track’s integrity,” said Lloyd Arnold, who heads the group that bought the Orange County track from Hollywood Park for $71 million last November. “I know it’s a hardship on the egos of some of these drivers because they can’t drive. They haven’t been cheating, but many of them are incompetent and they’re not as good at driving as they think.”

The racing board voted to schedule a hearing into the matter, which led to an exchange between Craigo and Henry Chavez, the board chairman. Craigo didn’t feel that the board was moving quickly enough. Chavez said that the process couldn’t be any quicker.

Horse Racing Notes

A field of 10 older fillies and mares was entered for Sunday’s $100,000 Buena Vista Handicap at a mile on the turf. Royal Touch will carry high weight of 123 pounds. Others running are Down Again, Jabalina Brown, Invited Guest, Touch, Agirlfromars, Oeilladine, Nikishka, Baba Cool, Oczy Czarnie and Saros Brig. . . . Chris McCarron, who has won a season-high nine stakes--including three of the last four that have been run--has a good chance for No. 10 today when he rides Fit To Scout in the Las Virgenes. Fit To Scout has already won three races during the meet and she has given McCarron two of his stakes victories.

Three horses--Criminal Type, Lively One and Santangelo--have been supplemented, at $25,000 apiece, to run in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap a week from Sunday. Santangelo ran second to Opening Verse in an allowance race on Feb. 15. . . . Friday’s daily-double payoff of $2,299.60 was the largest at Santa Anita since 1971 and the fourth biggest in track history. Hostettle, who survived a foul claim to win the second race and pay $110.80 to win, was ridden by Curtis Kimes, who works for trainer Willard Proctor and scored his first win at Santa Anita. . . . Because the carryover barely went over $500,000 Friday, there’s a mandatory payout in the Pick Nine today. No one has picked all nine winners for 27 days.

Laffit Pincay, sidelined since Jan. 26 because of a broken collarbone suffered in a spill while driving in an exhibition harness race, returns to action today. . . . With Red Ransom and Polish Numbers running in other races on the program, today’s $200,000 Donn Handicap will be the third most interesting race on the card at Gulfstream Park. Primal is the high weight at 120 pounds, and Western Playboy and Mi Selecto are also in the field. . . . Because of a television commitment, the Santa Anita Derby will probably be the fifth race on the card when it is run on April 7. . . . Julie Krone, still sidelined because of an injury she suffered last year, is scheduled for more surgery and probably won’t return to racing until late in the year.