LOS ALAMITOS : Champion Goes Back to Work

Trainer Larry Rathbone had trouble concealing his anxiety at Los Alamitos Saturday.

“He just trained in 2:00 flat this morning,” Rathbone said. “He went the last quarter in :28 flat. I didn’t mean to go quite that fast.”

Till We Meet Again, the 2-year-old champion pacer of North America last year, is ready to begin his quest for 3-year-old honors after spending the winter at Los Alamitos.

The colt will qualify between races Thursday night with stablemate Dancing Puddles, a 4-year-old stakes winner.

Qualifiers are normally staged during the day, but Los Alamitos management wanted to give fans the opportunity to see the champion once before the winter-spring meet closes Saturday. The qualifier is scheduled between the second and third races. Abe Stoltzfus will drive Till We Meet Again and Rathbone will drive Dancing Puddles.

“We’re aiming for 1:59 or 2:00 in the qualifier,” Rathbone said. “I’ve made some equipment changes and lengthened his hobbles about an inch and a half to 57 1/2 inches.

“He’s a wide stout colt but not that big. He’s matured but he’s not that tall. He put on a lot of weight. I got him a little fatter than he should be but the campaign we’ve got planned will chisel that off.”

Rathbone plans to take Till We Meet Again to Sacramento next week and either qualify or race him there on opening weekend May 4 or 5. He will be flown east the following week for the Hanover Hempt Pace at Vernon Downs in New York on May 19.

Other major objectives during the summer include the $500,000 New Jersey Classic and the $1-million Meadowlands Pace in New Jersey, the Adios at the Meadows in Pennsylvania, and the Messenger at Rosecroft in Maryland. His ultimate goal is the Breeders’ Crown at Florida’s Pompano Park in November.

Till We Meet Again scored one of the most dramatic victories in Breeders’ Crown history in his last start at Pompano in November, clinching the divisional title.

“He broke stride at the start and still managed to win by a half-length in 1:56 2/5,” Rathbone said. “It would be like falling down at the start of the Olympic mile and getting up to win.

“The Breeders’ Crown was an emotional roller-coaster ride. It was a muddy race track, a 10-horse field and a $500,000 race against the best of your division. How could you get back into the race? But he was out in the clear and close enough. You don’t see too many 2-year-olds come four-wide around the turn and do what he did.”

Rathbone, a 43-year-old New Jersey native from a harness racing family, is closely associated with Stoltzfus, a veteran from the Amish country of Pennsylvania. Stoltzfus and owner Ernest Hartman, a DuPont engineer from Delaware, were at a yearling sale in Lexington, Ky., two years ago when a son of Sonsam-Good Bye Gina, caught their attention. They bought him for $37,000.

“I started training him the winter before his 2-year-old year in Florida,” Rathbone said. “We had a real nice group, and he just trained ordinary with the rest. There was no indication he was a superhorse.

“In late May, before we left Florida, he seemed to do things easier than the rest. We took him to Brandywine (in Delaware). After his first baby race, we knew we had something special. I drove. He only took third but he paced the last half in :59 with no effort. Then a week later, he won in 2:02.”

In 1989, Till We Meet Again won 12 of 15 starts, including his last nine, and earned $442,994. He was clocked in 1:53 in winning the Fox Stakes at Indianapolis.

“He’s got a big heart and a lot of stamina,” Stoltzfus said. “He’s really filled out. We call him the Boomer.”

Rathbone does not expect the sophomore trail to be an easy one. “Beach Towel, Righthand Man, O.K. Bye, In The Pocket and Raven Lunatic are all back,” said Rathbone of his primary 2-year-old foes. “And there’s a good unbeaten Canadian colt, Mark Jonathan, who just won at the Meadowlands in 1:54 1/5.”

Leading driver Rick Kuebler, closing in on his third consecutive Los Alamitos title, began the week with 1,998 victories and should become the youngest member of the 2,000 club at the track before the end of the meet.

Kuebler, 36, will join veterans Jim Grundy, who has 2,276; Gene Vallandingham, 2,249; Joe Lighthill, 2,235; Marc Aubin, 2,143, and Steve Desomer, 2,063, at the Orange County track.

Kuebler always has enjoyed sports and drama.

“In ninth grade, I played ‘Oliver’ in a spring musical at Allemany High School,” he said. “They were looking for a young guy who could sing falsetto.

“Harness racing is a perfect combination for me: performing before an audience and putting on an athletic event.”

Kuebler, a talented musician, lyricist and writer, is also an aspiring screen writer. He recently sold a feature film sitcom.

Kuebler, who grew up in Northridge, lives in Yorba Linda with his wife, Terry, and their daughter, Kacey, 3. Terry spends most of her time around animals, many of which are more frightening than horses. She trains exotic animals and recently filmed a commercial with a black leopard.

Harness Racing Notes

Ross Croghan won seven races last week to move within 10 of Rick Kuebler in the drivers’ standings, 93-83. Paul Blumenfeld, a former assistant to Kuebler, clings to a 61-60 lead over Bob Gordon in the trainers’ race.

Eminem, odds-on favorite to be named horse of the meet, shoots for his 10th consecutive victory Saturday in the $25,000 final of the Fireball Pacing Series. Owner-breeder Robert Dellas of San Francisco was able to see the 3-year-old colt for the first time Saturday when he made it nine in a row by equaling his life mark of 1:56 for driver-trainer Rick Plano. Eminem is a son of Samore, an unraced full brother to champion Sonsam, sire of Till We Meet Again. Dellas recently sold half interest in the colt to Christo Bardis.

Other closing-weekend highlights include the $25,000 final of the Rising Star Pacing Series for fillies and mares Friday and the $25,000 final of the Marathon Pacing Series Saturday. The Marathon final will be at 1 7/8 miles, the longest harness race ever contested at Los Alamitos.

Lloyd Arnold, president and general manager of Los Alamitos, is so encouraged with the figures at the current meeting that he plans to bring the American Pacing Classic back this fall, a year earlier than originally planned. “Purses will be increased from 20 to 25%, and the Pacing Classic will be back in September,” Arnold said. “We’re planning three legs worth $25,000-50,000 and a final worth $100,000-150,000 in September.”

Trainer Glen Holt was fined $1,000 by track stewards when Right Rudder, which finished fourth in the fourth race March 20, was found to have an “excess of permitted level of medication” in its system. Tests revealed 13 micrograms of butazolidin. . . . Parimutuel licensee Gary Martin has been suspended for bookmaking, denied access to the jurisdiction and had his case referred to the California Horse Racing Board with the recommendation that his license be revoked.