LOS ALAMITOS : Driver Says He Will Put T K’s Skipper in Gear, Go for Record Tonight

Driver Joe Anderson predicts a world record for T K’s Skipper in the $150,000 final of the American Pacing Classic tonight at Los Alamitos Race Course.

“I think he’ll pace in at least 1:51 and a piece,” Anderson said of the 5-year-old pacer. “I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t.”

Anderson drove T K’s Skipper to a 5 1/4-length victory in a qualifying leg of the series last Saturday in track-record time of 1:52 2/5 for the mile, equaling the world mark T K’s Skipper already shared with Ring of Light and Banker Blue Chip for older pacers on a five-eighths-mile track.

“He was just idling last week,” Anderson said. “I just chirped to him a little on the backside, and he was an absolute machine.”

T K’s Skipper, who made a shambles of the field from the Nos. 9 and 6 post positions the last two weeks, drew the rail in the eight-horse final, worth $75,000 to the winner. “I’m glad I got the rail,” Anderson said. “I can dictate what happens. I know he can leave. I can either use him or not use him. I’d much rather have that than the (No.) 8 hole.

“The pressure’s building, but I’ve got to drive him like any other horse,” said Anderson, leading driver at the meeting. “I know I’ve got the best horse, and I’ve just got to keep him out of trouble early. I trained him a little more than I have been on Wednesday. I feel he’s coming into the race better than the last two. He’s extremely sharp now.”

The right tire on T K’s Skipper’s sulky blew shortly after the finish last week. “I got a new set of wheels, and that bike won’t be touched until the eighth race Saturday,” Anderson said.

“I had European wheels from Sweden last week. Nick Sodano, his trainer who warmed him up between races, is much heavier than I am, about 260 pounds to 140. With him in the bike, the tires looked a bit low. The fellow who maintains the bikes here reinflated the tires.

“If you overinflate, the tire rolls off the edge, and that’s what happened. I’m going with American wheels this week.

“It’s kind of nice to see a horse like this create this kind of excitement. It’s like Secretariat’s Belmont. The more he opened up, the more excited people got. I still get chills down my spine watching that.”

T K’s Skipper, a son of Governor Skipper and Shana Hanover, originally was named Shana’s Tagalong by his breeders, the Wirtz family of Chicago. They sold him for $27,000 at the Kentucky Tattersalls yearling sale to Ted Kowal, a Canadian who used his initials to rename the colt. Kowal sold him early in his 3-year-old year to a group headed by George Steinbrenner. A year later, he was sold for $150,000 to Jerry Dubiner’s Jerebel Stables of Pelham Manor, N.Y.

T K’s Skipper measures 16-2 hands high and requires 61-inch hobbles. Yet he is so gentle that Dubiner was able to plant a kiss on his forehead in the paddock before his last race.

“He has the best attitude of any horse I’ve ever seen,” said Bill Dawson, his caretaker the last year and a half. “He’s just friendly.”

Anderson said: “He loves to travel, loves to be around people and likes attention.”

T K’s Skipper has won 18 of 25 races and earned $523,362 this year. The year includes a 1:49 2/5 time trial at Du Quoin, Ill., despite throwing a shoe near the half-mile pole. But Sodano acknowledges that the horse is not perfect.

“He toes out and will brush his knees,” Sodano said. “That’s his one conformation fault. We don’t race him on a half-mile track.”

T K’s Skipper is scheduled to be flown to Kentucky Sunday morning for a race at Lexington Wednesday.

The American Pacing Classic resumed this year after a nine-year absence. The $150,000 final is the richest harness race in California since the $301,350 Breeders’ Crown Aged Horse and Gelding Pace at Los Alamitos in 1986.