LOS ALAMITOS : Kipadeucy, an Invader From the Northwest, Makes Debut in Denim N Diamonds Trials

There will be a new player in town when the trials for the $300,000 Denim N Diamonds Futurity are held tonight at Los Alamitos.

The Grade I race will be the final futurity on the Los Alamitos summer schedule, and shipping in from the Northwest for the event is a 2-year-old colt, Kipadeucy. Winner of four of his six starts at such tracks as Portland Meadows and Les Bois Park, Kipadeucy will provide the group of local 2-year-olds with a badly needed fresh name.

The colt Takin on the Cash has been the dominant figure among this year’s California freshmen crop, but he has been sent to New Mexico for the $2.5-million All American Futurity.

With Takin on the Cash out of the picture, the entrants in the three Denim N Diamonds trials are a fairly ordinary bunch, which is why the unexpected appearance of Kipadeucy could lend some excitement to the evening.

With $27,049 in earnings so far in his career, Kipadeucy is owned and trained by Veral Hodges, a native of Quincy, Wash., who is unaccustomed to media attention.

“Just make me out to be nothing but a country boy,” Hodges told reporters inquiring about his colt.

Of course, it would be hard to describe Hodges as anything else as he walks through the Los Alamitos barn area in his straw cowboy hat, boots and denim jeans complete with suspenders. But while Hodges may look and act the part of a slow-talking country boy, with Kipadeucy he may be ready to outslick the city boys.

Among Kipadeucy’s four career victories are the Bitterroot Futurity and the Boise Futurity. In the latter race June 13 at Les Bois Park in Idaho, Kipadeucy won by two lengths over 350 yards after taking his 350-yard trial by six lengths.

After that impressive victory, Hodges met with his family and decided to give Kipadeucy a shot at the Denim N Diamonds.

“We had some people trying to buy the colt, and when that deal fell through, we decided to come here for this race,” Hodges said Tuesday. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have my family behind me.”

Kipadeucy has been a family project for Hodges since 1966, when he purchased the colt’s granddam, Deckella, for $10,500 at a sale in California.

“Back then, you could have bought a small farm in Washington for the same money,” Hodges said. “Buying that mare was the only serious thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Hodges has raised some good runners during his 24 years in the quarter horse business, and he has sent a few runners to other trainers at Los Alamitos.

Kipadeucy, however, is the first horse Hodges has brought to this track.

“I guess it would be fair to say that I think Kipadeucy is a cut above anything I’ve ever had before,” Hodges said. “That’s why I’m here myself.”

Hodges had to pay the $15,000 late supplement to get Kipadeucy into the Denim N Diamonds Futurity trials.

Only the 10 fastest qualifiers from tonight’s 26 entrants will earn a spot in the July 28 futurity final.

Kipadeucy has drawn the outside post position in the second of the three trials. He will face Resolutions, fourth-place finisher in the Grade I Kindergarten earlier this summer.

Kipadeucy isn’t the only newcomer at Los Alamitos. Shipping in from Oklahoma was Tee Roy Reb, who has the $100,000 Los Alamitos Championship on his agenda.

Runner-up in last year’s $125,000 Breeders Championship Classic at Sunland Park in New Mexico, Tee Roy Reb has been on a tear in 1990, winning all four of his starts, including the $125,000 Remington Park Championship in his last race. Trainer Lee Roy Heidelberg brought Tee Roy Reb west for the July 28 event, which will also have Dash for Speed in the field.

Dash for Speed won her 1990 debut, the $50,000 Anne Burnett Handicap on July 15, breaking the 14-year-old Los Alamitos track record while recording a 19.53-second victory for trainer Blane Schvaneveldt.

Even the veteran Schvaneveldt seemed in awe of Dash for Speed’s performance. “She’s all class, that’s all I can think to say,” Schvaneveldt said. “We may never see another mare like her.”