LOS ALAMITOS : Elder Kueblers Have Pair of Heroes at the Track in Sons Rick and Fred

Pictures of harness horses and clippings of their exploits line the walls of My Hero submarine sandwich shop in Northridge, where, for the last 26 years, owners Howard and Elise Kuebler have satisfied customers with some of the best heroes in the San Ferando Valley.

But after sundown, the Kueblers’ heroes are sons Rick and Fred. Rick, 36, is the leading driver at the Los Alamitos harness meeting with 68 victories. Fred, 40, is the director of racing and co-racing secretary.

“We drive 60 miles each way every night that Los Alamitos is racing,” said Elise. “We are fans. Before Rick had his license, we flew to Sacramento to watch him in qualifiers. Needless to say, we are very proud of our young men.”

The Kueblers are as all-American a family as the Cleavers or the Nelsons. Howard is an Indiana native whose high school basketball team once beat a team coached by John Wooden. Elise’s father was the musical director of Fox Films and did the background music for the original “State Fair.”

Howard and Elise met in California when he was completing a four-year hitch with the Marines. They moved to Jackson Heights in New York and became harness racing fans at Roosevelt and Yonkers raceways.

“They used to show the races on TV,” recalled Elise. “When Fred and Rick were little, they used to watch with their sister Tina and bet on the races.”

When Tina, now Tina Fitzpatrick, came down with rheumatic fever as a child, the Kueblers decided to return to the warmer climate of Southern California in 1960. They settled three blocks from the sandwich shop they were to buy in 1964.

Fred and Rick played on Western Boys Baseball Assn. teams coached by their father. One of Fred’s teammates was Doug DeCinces. At 12, Rick played shortstop on a national championship team.

“We won the whole kit and caboodle,” smiled Rick. “After the championship, we were taken to Dodger Stadium and introduced individually at home plate. I still have a baseball signed by the whole team, including Walter Alston and Sandy Koufax.”

Rick and Fred attended Allemany High School. Each day, they passed Devonshire Downs, a training facility that is now part of Cal State Northridge. Soon, they began mucking out stalls.

“Rick was the one hell-bent for leather to do it,” said Fred. “I went over as a form of protection. The big prize at the end of the rainbow was when we got a chance to jog (the horses) instead of wash and clean them.”

Fred, whose forte always has been business and management, graduated from Cal State Northridge with a degree in accounting and business administration. Rick attended college for a year before heeding the call of hoofbeats.

“In 1971, Rick and I went to Sacramento as grooms for Marc Grenier and lived in tack rooms the whole summer,” said Fred.

In 1972, Rick drove his first winner, a pacer named Alex Wejover, at Sacramento.

“I gave the horse a kiss in the winner’s circle,” said Rick. “It was a dream come true.”

A major turning point in the lives of the Kuebler family was the formation of My Hero Racing Stable in 1975. Fred masterminded the 10-share, $150,000 limited partnership, comprising the Kueblers, relatives and one close friend.

Some of the funds were used at a Lexington (Ky.) sale, at which My Hero bought four 2-year-old fillies. None of them turned out very successful on the track but one, Kelly’s Filly, developed into a gold mine as a broodmare. She was bred to Albatross and produced The Thilly Thavage and Thither Thavage. Her next foal was The Thilly Brudder, by Native Vic.

All became as hard to beat as to pronounce. Fred, the bane of announcers, pleaded guilty to the naming.

“It was kind of a joke,” said Fred. “ ‘You thilly thavage’ was a phrase heard at the time. I thought it would tongue-tie announcers, and people would remember the names.”

With the success of Kelly’s Filly, My Hero stable grew quickly.

“We got up to 35 horses, and each one sort of bought the other,” said Elise. “We were very lucky.”

The My Hero horses were sold during the 1980s, though, when the sport hit hard times in California.

Rick spent a winter at the Meadowlands in New Jersey and summers at Pocono Downs in Pennsylvania and Monticello Raceway in New York in the late 1970s before settling in California year-round.

Fred began his career in race track management under Lloyd Arnold in 1979.

“I talked him into a liaison position between race track and management,” Fred said. “Within two or three months, the position grew to director of racing at Sacramento. We’ve had great bonding since the first day and took to each other’s style.”

Fred remained with Arnold through 1983 and rejoined him when he bought Los Alamitos last year.

Fred’s schedule consists of management meetings during the day, drawing the races with co-secretary Ron Goldman at 4 p.m., and spending the evening in an unpretentiously furnished room overlooking the finish line.

“Central headquarters” consists of a wall lined with seven television monitors of mutuel lines, a computerized typewriter producing mutuel information, a diagram of track lights and a telephone that rarely stops ringing.

“There’s lots of flack,” said Fred. “It’s not a job for someone with thin skin.”

Rick has concentrated on catch-driving since 1980, enabling him to drive solely for other trainers and not worry about morning training.

“There’s definitely a trend in that direction in this world of specialization,” he said. “These guys who (work) day and night are iron.”

Rick drives primarily for Paul Blumenfeld, a former assistant.

Rick started the week with 1,973 wins and should reach the 2,000 plateau before the end of the meet in April.

“I owe everything to my biggest fans, my parents,” he said. “They got us started. They put up the capital for a couple of guys who didn’t know what they were doing.”

Harness Racing Notes

The Western Standardbred Assn.’s 1989 horse-of-the-year award will be presented after the eighth race Saturday. Candidates are divisional champions Denali’s Thor, Lepton, Calvery Officer, Gee Gee Gem, Sam Stein, Winning Night, Doodlin, Anatolian Story, Capuchine, Moscato Beach, Sovereign Mine, Thadrow, Court of Appeal and Googie.

French Heritage has been retired for breeding. The 8-year-old mare was vanned off the track after the $10,000 invitational pace for fillies and mares Friday. She suffered a broken pastern bone inn her left foreleg between the foot and ankle. She had a 1:57 mark and earnings of $143,897.

Driver Steve Hyman was fined $100 for “unreasonable use of the whip” after pacer Armaway returned with cuts after the eighth race Feb. 21. Hyman also was put on probation for the rest of the year. “If it happens again, he will drive without a whip,” said steward Peter Tommila. Driver Joe Anderson was fined $300 for kicking Alboretto in the 11th race Feb. 10, his third offense.