LOS ALAMITOS : Pomona Dates, Training Site Vital for Harness Survival, Arnold Says

Lloyd Arnold, president and general manager of Los Alamitos Race Course, considers a meeting with the allocation committee of the California Horse Racing Board Friday vital for the survival of harness racing in California.

Still smarting from the board’s denial of leased harness dates at Fairplex Park in Pomona from Oct. 26 through Jan. 13, Arnold now seeks a four-month meeting at Pomona from April to August as part of a 10-month California harness circuit in 1991.

“I’m telling the board we need two things,” Arnold said. “We’ve got to have the Pomona dates, and we’ve got to have a site to train our horses until our next meet. They wouldn’t give up Pomona; we’ve got to have Del Mar.” A 42-night Los Alamitos harness meeting concludes Saturday. The next Standardbred meet in Southern California is scheduled to open at Los Alamitos in early February.

“If we don’t get Del Mar to train and don’t get the Pomona dates next year, we won’t have harness racing here in February because we won’t have any horses,” Arnold said. “The racing board will have run us out of the state.”

Allocation committee chairman Leslie Liscom, Henry Chavez and Rosemary Ferraro will represent the CHRB at the Friday meeting in Burbank. Dennis Hutcheson, the board’s secretary, said a new bill that allocates a total of 77 weeks of harness and quarter horse racing in this part of the state in 1991 will be examined. Hutcheson also met Tuesday at Del Mar with members of the 22nd Agricultural District, the California Thoroughbred Breeders Assn. and Western Standardbred Assn. to look at the stabling situation. “The committee can only make recommendations to the board for its next regular meeting Oct. 26,” Hutcheson said.

Arnold and Chris Bardis, co-owners of Los Alamitos, have postponed pursuing a lawsuit claiming that the board did not act in the best interests of racing, until after the meeting Friday.

Arnold said he is seeking 1991 dates from Feb. 5 to April 15 at Los Alamitos, April 17 to Aug. 17 at Pomona, and Aug. 19 to Dec. 1 at Los Alamitos.

“We see no reason why we won’t get the Pomona dates,” Arnold said. “If not, we’d go ahead with the lawsuit. We think they’ve acted unfairly. We’d go after them with all the force we’ve got.

“For years, the board has told us to buy a track or get a lease. We bought this track and had a lease at Pomona. Now we can’t go, they say, because it will inconvenience the thoroughbred people at Pomona.

“I didn’t know the racing board has the power to tell the Los Angeles County Fair that they have to lose money instead of making money. We guaranteed them $500,000-a-year profit they’re not getting now, nor are they going to get because we didn’t get the dates.”

Arnold already sees the damage done by the denial of a winter meet at Pomona. “We’ve probably lost 250 out of 1,150 horses to other tracks already,” he said. “We’ve got enough left to finish out the meet.

“We had some new blood coming in with new horses, too. Ron Waples, one of the leading drivers in Canada, was going to bring 100 young horses. Bill Wellwood, another Canadian, was coming. Altogether, we were going to get 350 yearlings.

“Paul Hawkins just shipped in two loads of horses from Ontario (Canada) and was going to ship two more, anticipating Pomona. Now, he has no choice but to return home.”

Los Alamitos opened its $750,000 paddock in the grandstand Saturday, two weeks after the return of the $150,000 American Pacing Classic. “It’s mind-boggling that we’ve spent so much time and money to bring harness racing back to a level of excellence, and then to have the horse racing board throw another block in our way, to say we’re going away,” Arnold said. “But we’re not going away.”

Divine Spirit, the leading 3-year-old filly trotter in California, is being shipped to Italy for a race in Milan on Nov. 1. It will be a dream come true for co-owner Harvey Stein.

Stein, a track veterinarian from Long Beach, owns the filly in partnership with trainer Bobby Marchand. “I went to veterinarian school in Bologna, Italy, from 1977-82,” Stein said. “I fell in love with trotting over there and spent most of my weekends at the track.

“I met a trainer over there, Sergio Corona. He visited over here last winter, saw (Divine Spirit) win a race in her usual come-from-behind style and was impressed. He told me about the race Nov. 1 and said she was as good as anything racing in Italy.

“It will be especially emotional for me because the race is named after Orsi Mangelli, the number one breeder of trotters in Italy. His farm is near Bologna and represents the epitome of Italian trotting.

“I’ve had a couple offers for her of over $100,000. My real desire is to win the race--and I think she stands a big chance--and then to sell her over there.”

Stein, Plano, Marchand and blacksmith Al Sneva are looking forward to the trip. “My grandparents on both sides are from Italy,” Plano said. “This will be my first trip there.”

Harness Racing Notes

Leading driver Joe Anderson, who had wrapped up the meeting title with 55 victories entering the final week, will also go international. “I’m leaving Monday for a month in New Zealand and Australia,” the 40-year-old driver said. “I’ll be driving in Perth on Oct. 26 and 27.”

Paul Blumenfeld, 30, has clinched meeting training honors with 29 victories entering the final week. He plans to move Glenburn Star up to the invitational ranks Saturday after the 5-year-old New Zealand-bred gelding scored in a career-best 1:54 2/5 last Saturday. “He’s a real good horse,” Blumenfeld said. “He hadn’t shown his potential because I rushed him too much last meet and gave him a fast prep trying to get ready for a series.” Owners Chris Westergard of Bellflower and John Morrison of Huntington Harbour bought Glenburn Star last year for $50,000.