LOS ALAMITOS : Gordon Continues Winning Ways

Trainer Bob Gordon enjoys more good nights than bad at Los Alamitos. Friday was very good.

Gordon’s latest score came with successive victories by Ja Ja Fajasm and Happy Patron.

Longshot Ja Ja Fajasm won the $15,000 Invitational feature pace for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles in a photo finish. Twenty minutes later, Happy Patron unleashed a powerful burst down the backstretch to open a 10-length lead and coast home in 1:54 3/5, trimming two seconds off his previous best time. Peter Wrenn drove both winners.

Gordon, a leading trainer in California for more than a decade, took it all in stride. “I just got Ja Ja Fajasm last summer at Sacramento,” he said of the 4-year-old. “She was a fast filly but kind of crazy. I just got her settled down. I re-rigged her a little, changed her shoeing and put a hood on to quiet her down.”

“I tried a new bike on Happy Patron,” Gordon said of the 8-year-old gelding from New Zealand. “I got him two years ago. The bike works on the same principle as the single-shaft sulky. It has two shafts but with a pivot in the middle, so the horse has free movement.

“The race set up for him, too. When we were coming, they were coming the other way. Peter cranked him out and let him roll. That braves up a horse.”

Gordon, 49, an Anaheim resident, likes nothing better than to train a winner. “I’m very competitive and don’t like to lose at anything,” he said. “My wife gets mad at me when we play cards or Trivial Pursuit and says I’m too serious. I love to win. That’s just me.”

Gordon leads the meet in victories, with 58; winning percentage, with 25%, and Universal Driver Rating System average, with .380, among trainers with more than 100 starts entering the final four weeks. “I’m usually one, two or three at every meet,” he said. “I doubt I will hold on for number of winners.”

Gordon leads Paul Blumenfeld in that department, 58-57. “His stable is just so much larger,” Gordon said. “I have 16 horses; he has 25 or 30, and has about 150 more starts this meet.”

Gordon grew up in Marysville, Ohio, a town of about 5,000 near Columbus. He was quarterback of the high school football team and started on the basketball team with Jim Burson, now coach at Muskingum College and father of former Ohio State star Jay Burson.

Gordon became hooked on harness racing as a teen-ager after his grandfather introduced him to the sport. “After high school, six kids I went to school with and I got together and bought a yearling filly at the Little Brown Jug Sale for $670,” Gordon said. “Her name was No Troubles, and we turned her over to Jack Blessing, who also had gone to our school, to train and drive. As time went on, the others sold their shares, and I ended up owning all of her. She turned into an outstanding mare at 4 before she was claimed.”

Gordon went to work for Hall of Famer Bob Farrington, best known for Rambling Willie, at his Ohio farm. He began driving in Ohio and Michigan, then branched out to Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Gordon’s driving career, in effect, came to an end when he suffered a broken back in a spill at Hollywood Park. “Fifth lumbar vertebra,” he said with a pained smile. “It laid me up for three or four months in the late ‘70s.

“I drove again six months later, but every time you aggravate the injury, it’s hard to sleep. You sit at a different angle in the jog cart than you do in a racing sulky, and the pressure is much different on your lower back.”

Gordon noticed a change in the sport toward specialization, with more concentration on training or driving, but not both. “I feel I can train as well as anybody, but if you don’t win races, you’re not going to have horses,” he said. “If I can use top drivers, I’m going to give my owners every opportunity to win.”

Gordon began using Bobby and Jack Williams and Gene Vallandingham. This year, he primarily is using Wrenn and Vallandingham.

Gordon is a big booster of the “Win Again with Peter Wrenn” bumper stickers found in abundance around the track. “I went back east with Lloyd (Arnold, track president and general manager) before the meet, searching for some new blood,” Gordon said. “I told Bill O’Donnell he could drive for me when he came out for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the meet. We convinced Abe Stoltzfus to bring some horses out.

“I knew Peter was a top driver in Michigan, and that’s a tough circuit. He gave me first call on all my horses. He reminds me of a great driver I worked for--Bob Farrington.” Wrenn, 27, is second in the drivers’ standings with 70 victories.

Gordon does drive occasionally during the summer at Sacramento. “I like to start my babies out,” he said of his 2-year-olds. He has seven that he is eager to start in a few months.

Gordon is happy with the loyalty shown by such longtime owners as Duane Bacon, Nick Matranga, Neil Miller and Bob Staats and has acquired such new clients as actor Timothy Busfield.

When the legendary Rambling Willie raced in California, Farrington entrusted him to Gordon to win the American Pacing Classic at Hollywood Park. Gordon also trained such standouts as Theora Hanover, Pack Leader and Stolen Moments. His current star is Cavalry Officer, a 4-year-old pacer who set a mark of 1:54 1/5 last year and is recovering from a minor injury.

“My favorite horse is probably Bold Ruler Pick,” Gordon said. “I bought him at Windsor Raceway (in Ontario, Canada) for $5,000 in 1966 or ’67. I took him to Chicago and beat all the best free-for-allers there, like Dancing David and Reed’s Warlay. I made about $70,000 with him in six months and sold him for $35,000.”

The most dramatic victory of the current Los Alamitos meeting was scored Friday by Kaimai Lady. The 8-year-old New Zealand-bred mare, a trotter converted to pacing for the first time, broke stride at the start, costing her an estimated 10 lengths.

Kaimai Lady came from last around the far turn, was carried four wide and still managed to win in 1:59 2/5 for driver Rick Kuebler.

“I immediately thought she was out of it,” trainer Paul Blumenfeld said. “It was one of the most impressive miles I’ve ever seen. Rick was pretty amazed. He said guts did that one.”

Kaimai Lady won four races as a trotter in New Zealand and won earlier at Los Alamitos in 2:00 3/5. “She kept kicking into the pace after she made a break in the morning,” Blumenfeld said of the switch. “I was training her with the best horses in my barn. When she’s pacing free-legged and beating them, I thought I’d make her a pacer.

“I’ve had her over here about five months, and she’s totally pacing-bred. I just think there’s more money for her as a pacer. She wears a 60-inch hobble, which is long, and she’s only had them for a week. I think she’s going to be a real nice mare. She’s a natural.”

Harness Racing Notes

The Rising Star and Fireball Pacing Series get under way this weekend with $7,500 legs. The Rising Star, for fillies and mares, begins Friday. The Fireball, for colts and geldings, starts Saturday. After three legs, the top nine point scorers in each qualify for $25,000 finals on April 13 and 14, respectively. . . . The Invitational trot, for a $17,500 purse, will shift to Tuesday next week.

Storm Prince won the $20,000 second leg of the Marathon Pacing Series in 3:14 4/5 for 1 5/8 miles Saturday. The final leg, for $25,000 at 1 7/8 miles, is will be held on April 7. . . . Roger Stein, who has a stable for the first time since 1985, has won 27 races with only 69 starters, an eye-opening win percentage of 39%. The stable is trained by Noel Leblanc. The horses are owned by Howard Bassman. Stein dominated the standings in Southern California from 1980 through ’85 before switching to thoroughbreds.

Pompano Park in Florida has been awarded all 12 Breeders’ Crown races in November by the Hambletonian Society. Eight of the races are scheduled on Nov. 2, with three hours of live coverage by ESPN. The other four will be on Nov. 30, with taped ESPN coverage.