Trotter Bolts Onto Air Base, Stops Airplanes

A 2-year-old horse with a hankering for freedom got away from his handler at the race track Friday and ran amok at the nearby Armed Forces Reserve Center, where he sprinted around the runway and stopped aircraft traffic for several minutes.

“Star O Cathy definitely has a lot of spunk,” said Shayne Nilsen, the groom who was giving the trotting horse a workout around Los Alamitos Race Course about noon when the brown gelding suddenly became frightened and “started going crazy.”

“He sure has a mind of his own,” Nilsen said. “He kind of embarrassed me, but he showed he has what it takes to be a winner.”

Nilsen tried to calm the spirited trotter, but it was no use.

“He just wouldn’t listen to me,” she said.

After struggling with Star O Cathy for about 10 minutes, Nilsen said she bailed out of the sulky when the horse tried to kick her in the face.

“I tried my best . . . but when he started kicking, I said, ‘Shayne, you gotta get out of here.’ ”

With his passenger gone, Star O Cathy hit a fence, lost the buggy and galloped out an open gate. He trotted around nearby South Golf Course before heading several miles down city streets to Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center.

Along the way, Elena Moure, a parimutuel clerk on her way to work at the track, spotted the horse and ran interference for him in her car.

Jim Hawkswell, a base security officer, said he thought twice about stopping the galloping gelding as he crashed onto the base.

“I saw this huge horse coming toward the gate, and I got in front of it to try and stop him from going on base,” he said. “I was going to grab the reins, but he was coming pretty fast and I thought it wasn’t the wisest thing to do. They don’t train you for this at the academy. They don’t teach you how to lasso a horse.”

Star O Cathy ran pass the guard station and headed for the main runway, with Moure and Hawkswell following close behind.

Chief Warrant Officer Jim Ybarra said the sight of the large brown horse galloping around the runway was “comical.”

“We’re supposed to be on high alert here and (the horse) made it look easy to get on the post,” Ybarra said. “I think the only people who have trouble getting on here are those with military IDs.”

While on the runway, Star O trotted around the U-shaped airfield “like he was doing laps at the track,” Hawkswell said.

Two helicopters and a C-5A cargo plane were prevented from departing for several minutes as Star O loped around.

“This type of thing is not that uncommon,” Ybarra said. “We get deers and dogs out there fairly often. . . . A horse is just a bigger target.”

About 10 minutes later, Star O apparently tired and was nabbed by base security officers with the help of Moure and a trainer who was called to the post.

“There wasn’t a pimple on the horse. He was fine,” said Timothy Maier, the trainer who hauled Star O Cathy back home. “I’ll tell you one thing, though, he was pretty tired.”

The way Nilsen sees it, it was a good workout.

“He sure got his exercise today,” she said.