Horse Racing : LOS ALAMITOS : Refugee From Steinbrenner Finds Success

Horses, as well as baseball players, apparently perform better without George Steinbrenner around.

T K’s Skipper, the heavy favorite in the $150,000 American Pacing Classic final Saturday night at Los Alamitos, once belonged to the former New York Yankee owner. Since he was sold last year, however, T K’s Skipper has blossomed into the leading older pacer in the nation.

Jerry Dubiner, 72-year-old owner of Jerebel Stables, bought the pacer from Steinbrenner. Dubiner, who lives in the Westchester County community of Pelham Manor about 10 miles north of Yankee Stadium, visited Los Alamitos for the first time last Saturday and saw his 5-year-old star set a track record of 1:52 2/5 and equal the world mark for aged pacers on a five-eighths-mile track.

“Ten years ago, I bought my first horse,” said Dubiner, who could pass as George Jessel’s younger brother. “Carmine Sodano, the police captain in my hometown, said his brother, Nick, had just taken out a trainer’s license and could I help him out by buying a horse.

“I bought my first horse for $7,500. He won a couple of races, and one thing led to another. I wind up with 14 or 15 horses, losing about a million dollars over 10 years.”

Dubiner runs a thriving real estate business after having made an earlier fortune in platform shoes.

“Jerry’s Shoe Stores--I was the king,” Dubiner said. “I had stores all over the country from 1942 to 1959. My clients included Carmen Miranda, the Andrews Sisters and Eydie Gorme.”

T K’s Skipper, who has had a tendency to throw shoes during races, might finally put Dubiner in the black as a horse owner.

“Luckily, we finally hit this one that may bail me out,” he said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I figure I would recoup my losses. I told Nick this was going to be the last shot. The last shot turned out to be the best shot.”

In March of 1989, Dubiner bought T K’s Skipper from Steinbrenner and three partners for $150,000.

“George and his trainer, Tom Harmer, were in New Zealand, and I remember making the deal from a car phone in the Meadowlands (N.J.) parking lot for 45 minutes,” Dubiner said.

“Then Steinbrenner tried to renege after the deal had been made. One of his partners said the deal was off. But I had already turned a certified check over to the trainer’s assistant and told him I would take the matter to the New Jersey Racing Commission if I didn’t get the horse.”

For Steinbrenner, T K’s Skipper had won 14 of 29 starts and earned $53,000 in 1988 and ’89. For Dubiner, he has earned more than $735,000.

T K’s Skipper was bred in Illinois by the Wirtz family’s Ivanhoe Stable. His dam, Shana Hanover, never won a race.

The colt was bought by Ted Kowal, a Canadian from Brantford, Ontario, who used his initials to rename the son of Governor Skipper. Unraced at 2, the strapping colt made it to the races in February of ’88 in Florida. He won two of his first three starts for driver Peter Wrenn at Pompano Park before Kowal sold him to Steinbrenner and partners Neil Silverman, Charles Day and Gerald Legault in March.

T K’s Skipper’s paternal grandfather, Meadow Skipper, won the 1964 American Pacing Classic at Hollywood Park, defeating Tarquinius and Henry T. Adios in a clash of stars of that era. Governor Skipper, a son of Meadow Skipper and sire of T K’s Skipper, was 3-year-old champion in 1977, won the Little Brown Jug, earned more than $1 million and had a best of 1:54.

T K’s Skipper already has gone faster than his sire and will be a much heavier favorite than his grandfather in the final of the Classic, which has resumed after a nine-year absence in California.

T K’s Skipper won easily for a second consecutive week in a qualifying leg last Saturday, taking the lead after a :27 2/5 first quarter and never looking back. He won by five lengths even though a tire on his sulky blew out near the finish.

“He felt stronger and sharper than the previous week,” said driver Joe Anderson, the Los Alamitos leader. “He was just sitting there to a 56 4/5 half, and I hear the other drivers behind me asking their horses (to run harder). That’s fun!”

Harness Racing Notes

Also qualifying for the American Racing Classic final were Power and Glory, Dare You To, Riviera Hanover, Absolute Gem, J.A. Bedford, B. Crafty and Tiger Pilot. . . . Trainer Nick Sodano plans to fly T K’s Skipper to Kentucky for a race at Lexington next Wednesday, then point him for the Breeders’ Crown at Pompano Park Nov. 2.

One patron bet $20,000 to show on T K’s Skipper last Saturday and another bet $10,000, helping create a minus pool of $3,911. . . . The Saturday card was the most successful of the season, financially and competitively. The total handle of $1,129,302 was a meet high. The slowest mile on the 12-race card was 1:57.

Trainer-driver Mickey DiFranco Jr. enjoyed had a prosperous week, guiding Roan Spirit to victory in the $25,000 California Gold Series final Saturday after having won the $20,000 California Sire Stake Thursday with U Bu Go. Roan Spirit was timed in 1:54 3/5, two-fifths of a second off the track record for sophomore 3-year-old pacers. U Bu Go, another sophomore 3-year-old colt, upset Capital Game by a nose in 1:59 3/5. “I always have to race U Bu Go from behind because he never leaves the gate,” said DiFranco said. “I can’t go with him until the second half. He always draws bad, too.” U Bu Go drew Post 9, Capital Game Post 2 for a rematch in a $29,000 Breeders’ Championship race Thursday.

Driver Tim Maider was elated with Cool Charm Girl’s victory in the $20,000 invitational Friday. Her time of 1:55 was a track record for aged older pacing mares. “She had been off three weeks because of a fever,” said Maier said of the 7-year-old New Zealand-bred mare’s impressive return. “The big key was turning her out for a week at a thoroughbred farm, Granja Vista del Rio in Corona. Records are nothing new to her. She holds the record in New Zealand for the fastest mile from a standing start, two minutes.”