LOS ALAMITOS : Harness Hall of Fame Is One of Few Places That Jim Dennis, 67, Hasn’t Made His Mark

One of the better harness racing books is Marie Hill’s “Single G: The Horse That Time Forgot,” the biography of a star pacer who won 262 of his 434 races from 1913 to 1926.

At times, Jim Dennis must feel like the driver that harness racing forgot. One of the leading horsemen in the sport for most of his life, Dennis has been overlooked for the Harness Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y. There have been 48 members inducted since its inception in 1961, 27 of them trainer-drivers and few more deserving than Dennis.

Dennis, 67, is semi-retired and lives in Solana Beach, just off the second fairway of Lomas Santa Fe Golf Club and two miles from the Del Mar race track.

Dennis tried to downplay the oversight during a visit to the thoroughbred races at Del Mar last summer.

“I never played politics,” he said. “I’m in the Hall of Fame in California and Illinois.”

Dennis’ record should earn a spot in any Hall of Fame. He drove 2,677 winners and developed such stars as Sir Dalrae, 1973 horse of the year; Mr. Dalrae, 1984 aged pacing champion, and mid-’60s pacing star Adios Vic.

“Sir Dalrae was the best,” Dennis said. “He was like a machine. Track conditions, posts didn’t make any difference.”

Sir Dalrae won 20 of 27 starts in 1973 against top free-for-all competition around the nation.

Mr. Dalrae earned $1,150,807 and recorded a best time of 1:52 2/5 at the Meadowlands. Both the Dalrae horses were owned by the A La Carte stable of Bill Smith, owner of the Dalrae Restaurant in Pico Rivera.

Adios Vic is best remembered as the nemesis of Bret Hanover, a three-time horse of the year who won 62 of 68 races.

“We beat him a total of five times,” Dennis said.

Bret Hanover was unbeaten in 24 starts as a 2-year-old and had won his first 35 races when he met Adios Vic at Springfield, Ill., in August of his 3-year-old season.

“I knew I could beat Bret Hanover but I never told anybody because they would say I was crazy,” Dennis said. “Adios Vic was the fastest horse I ever trained or drove. He could race a quarter in :26 in those days, and that was fantastic. Sometimes he had so much speed he couldn’t handle it. After he beat Bret in Springfield, he beat him again two weeks later in Indianapolis.”

Dennis also recalled winning a race at Santa Anita in 1:57 2/5 with a 13-year-old from New Zealand named Caduceus. Another victory that gave him great satisfaction was the 1967 American Trotting Championship at Yonkers, N.Y., with Perfect Freight.

“The great mare Roquepine was in that race and I never thought I had a chance,” Dennis said. “I remember sitting on the plane, trying to figure how I was just going to get a check out of the race. In the race, I was sitting in a perfect position, Roquepine broke and jammed up the horses behind her, and I won by five.”

Dennis quit driving about five years ago.

“I figured a guy of my age had no business competing with the kids,” he said. “I didn’t feel I was competitive at that age.

“My business nowadays is to develop young horses and send them to trainers.”

Last summer he turned over two 2-year-old colt pacers and a 3-year-old filly pacer to Tom Harmer in Chicago.

Apparently, Dennis still knows his business:

--Mr. Gourmet, a son of Mr. Dalrae, won at Lexington, Ky., Friday in 1:54, a world record for a 2-year-old gelding pacer on a mile track.

--Royal Salute, another 2-year-old colt, won in 1:59 3/5 at Sportsman’s Park in Chicago, despite a throat problem most of the season.

--Tip ‘n Tax, the sophomore filly, has earned $123,000 and won in 1:53 at Du Quoin, Ill.

Dennis is eager to get started with three yearlings he bought for Smith at the recent Tattersalls Sale at Lexington.

“I bought a trotter for $35,000 and two pacing fillies, including the half sister to Tip ‘n Tax for $45,000,” he said.

“I’ve been training for Bill for 30 years, and I trained for 35 for Victor and Morris Zeinfeld of Chicago.”

Dennis grew up in Idaho, the son of a trainer-driver in the Northwest.

“We raced in Idaho, Utah and Oregon,” he said. “I remember coming to Pomona for the Los Angeles County Fair in the early 1940s.”

Dennis has lived in the Del Mar area since 1950, in large part because of access to the state-owned Del Mar track for winter training. He is hopeful that he can start developing some more future stars at Del Mar soon.

“With the CHRB turning down Pomona dates this winter, there’s no place else for harness people to go but Del Mar,” he said.

Harness Racing Notes

Lloyd Arnold, president and general manager of Los Alamitos, remains angry over the California Horse Racing Board’s denial of Los Alamitos-leased harness dates at Fairplex Park in Pomona from Oct. 26 to Jan. 12. Arnold considered the meet a vital link to a year-round harness circuit in California. Los Alamitos is taking the CHRB to court in Sacramento today in an attempt to change the ruling.

“We’re in limbo,” Arnold said. “I didn’t know the board gave stabling precedent over live racing. If we don’t get Pomona, I’ve petitioned the board to let us go to less than a five-day week for our remaining two weeks. We’ll be losing a lot of horses to other tracks around the country, and if we can’t fill the cards with the quality we’re used to, I want to leave with integrity.”

Los Alamitos’ $750,000 grandstand paddock will open next Tuesday with ribbon-cutting ceremonies at 7:15 p.m. With 25 permanent stalls and five portables, the facility will be able to hold horses for three races at one time.

Suzanne Broughten, an owner and breeder from Corona Del Mar with a penchant for clever names, bred both Nothing Ventured and Capital Game, trotting stars of the current meet. Broughten owns the mare, Initial Investment, and bred her to Diamond Exchange to produce Nothing Ventured, a 4-year-old colt, and to Camp David to produce Capital Game, a 3-year-old colt. Nothing Ventured, winner of more than $80,000, seeks his 11th straight victory in the $20,000 feature next Tuesday. Capital Game, who has earned more than $100,000, will race in the $38,612 Electioner Futurity Thursday.

“I bought Initial Investment at a sale in the East from Loren Evans, a famous veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center,, Broughten said. “She’s a daughter of Speedy Crown and is 14 now. She just had another colt by Camp David and is back in foal to him.”

Owner Michael Schwartz of Santa Ana, who bought 3-year-old filly pacing sensation Lepton for $4,500 at a Pomona yearling sale, just purchased her full sister, Split Second, for $20,000 at an Illinois-bred yearling sale at Maywood Park in Chicago. Ross Croghan, Schwartz’s driver, also was busy at the Tattersalls yearling sale at Lexington, buying a Nihilator filly named Animation, a Troublemaker filly named Whimsically and an Abercrombie colt named Shiney Key.

T K’s Skipper, who set a world record of 1:51 in winning the $150,000 American Pacing Classic at Los Alamitos Set. 29, went to the well once too often. Five hours after the race, he was driven to Ontario Airport and flown directly to Lexington, Ky., where he competed three days later. He finished fifth as the 2-5 favorite. . . . Dare You To, the American Pacing Classic runner-up trained by David Bittle for owner Joseph Alflen of Redondo Beach, was flown to New Jersey this week for a race at Garden State before a rematch with T K’s Skipper in the Breeders’ Crown Nov. 2 at Pompano Park, Fla.

Cool Charm Girl, a 7-year-old mare from New Zealand, shaved a tick off her week-old track record for aged pacing mares Friday, scoring easily in 1:54 4/5 for driver and co-owner Tim Maier. . . . Joe Anderson continues to lead the driver standings with 46 victories, Paul Blumenfeld the trainers with 22.