LOS ALAMITOS : Didericksen Appreciates His Work Now

When Kip Didericksen set a one-year earnings record for a quarter horse jockey aboard Ms Tru Li Snooty in the first race last Wednesday at Los Alamitos, he celebrated in the manner he most enjoys.

He won the second race on BCR Jet Wrangler.

“What makes you successful is if you like what you’re doing,” Didericksen said. “This is fun.”

Little races or big races, Didericksen lives to ride--and win.

His hunger for success enabled him to eclipse Ken Hart’s 1985 earnings mark of $2,628,431.

“I didn’t know I broke the record until I went back to the winner’s circle and got my picture taken and heard the announcer,” Didericksen said. “At least my name will be announced again when somebody else breaks it.”

Didericksen, a 5-foot-9, 117-pounder, towers over the jockey colony. His earnings more than double those of any 1990 rival.

Didericksen’s year was highlighted by victories in the $2-million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs with Refrigerator--the $1-million prize alone was responsible for more than 35% of his earnings--and the $250,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos with Dash For Speed.

Didericksen, 24, was born in Preston, Ida. The son of a trainer, Didericksen led the national quarter horse standings in 1986 and ’89. But he has had his problems.

In 1987, he was caught using a battery in a race at Hollywood Park and was suspended for a year until August of 1988. Didericksen reflected philosophically on the incident and said he learned from his mistake.

“I used bad judgment,” Didericksen said. “But they say things happen for a reason. I had taken a lot for granted. When I saw the ‘real world’ during my suspension and how hard it was to make a living, it made me see what I could have by being a rider.

“The realization came when I went to college and took a real estate course at Boise State. That’s when I saw how hard it was to make a dime. I had all the futurity horses that year, too, and had to watch them win without me and realize how much money I could be making.

“I thought I’d get too big to ride and planned on not coming back. But I still weighed 121 that November, and after New Year’s, 1988, started galloping horses on a California farm for Bob Baffert for my return in the summer.”

Didericksen still struggles with weight. “Later in 1988, I went home hunting, didn’t watch myself and got up to 135,” he said. “It took me three months to get down to 117 again.”

Didericksen will ride Takin On The Cash, the appropriately named favorite in the $334,000 Golden State Futurity on Saturday. “If I have a good week, I could hit $3 million,” he said. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

Trainers Blane Schvaneveldt, H.L. Hooper and Russell Harris expressed disbelief and frustration over the state’s handling of a dozen positive cocaine tests, including three involving their quarter horses. The others were six thoroughbreds and three standardbreds.

The three shook their heads last week after a closed-door meeting with track officials following the California Horse Racing Board disclosure.

In the cases of Schvaneveldt and Hooper, the positives came from horses who ran at Los Alamitos in June, 1989. Harris’ positive was from a horse there Nov. 8. Track stewards barred him from entering horses the last two weeks. He obtained a court injunction that will enable him to enter them until the result of a second sample at a different lab is learned. The state initially said Schvaneveldt and Hooper would be prohibited from entering horses this week, but changed its stance to allow them until a court hearing Jan. 28.

Another positive for a metabolite of cocaine turned up in a quarter horse trained by Caesar Dominguez in May. He was fined $5,000 and suspended for one year in August.

“They handled mine and Hooper’s differently from Harris’,” Schvaneveldt said. Track officials explained that the tests for Harris and Dominguez came back during the meet, thus allowing stewards to rule, while the other two results came back more than 30 days after the conclusion of the meet, putting the matter in state hands.

The three questioned the logic of why successful veteran trainers with previously spotless records would jeopardize their livelihoods by using cocaine in small races.

“I don’t think it’s going through the horses,” said Schvaneveldt, the track’s all-time leading trainer. “I think it’s coming from the test barns or the people who are handling it.

“I raced 2,000 (horses) the last two years and haven’t had a bad test for 25 years. I’ve been winning 200 to 300 races a year, and this test came up on one that got beat.”

Hooper said, “Nothing makes any sense about the whole thing. My horse was a favorite who won at 8-5. The scary thing is we could have 10 more (positive tests) in there like it and still not know any more where it came from.

“It’s a sad situation when somebody has your family’s future in the palm of their hands like this. I don’t know where it’s being done, but it’s not by the trainers or anybody in the barns.”

Los Alamitos Notes

Takin On The Cash and Jacks Dash recorded the fastest times of 10 qualifiers for Saturday’s $334,000 Golden State Futurity at 400 yards. Takin On The Cash, trained by Henry Dominguez for Felipe Tiscareno, set a track record of 19.34 seconds in a trial last Wednesday. Times were so fast on a sealed track with a tail wind that five qualifiers equalled or broke the previous standard of 19.53 seconds. Unbeaten qualifier Susies Girl Sally is a half-sister to Pacific Classics Derby winner Dashin Dee Dee. The raced will be shown Sunday on Prime Ticket at 6 p.m. Strawfly Special and Way Maker head a list of 10 qualifiers for Friday’s $167,000 Southern California Derby at 440 yards.

Griswold, who continued to show his sharpness at 870 yards with a decisive victory in the $27,150 Katella Handicap Friday, remains on target for a match race with thoroughbred sprinter Valiant Pete on Jan. 12, according to track officials. The race would be at 870 yards. The track is proposing to put up $40,000 if each owner puts up $30,000, with the winner earning $80,000 and the runner-up $20,000. Griswold set a world record of 44.07 seconds for the 870 yards. Valiant Pete a world record of 49 1/5 seconds for 4 1/2 furlongs (990 yards), both at Los Alamitos. . . . There will be a special New Year’s Eve program Monday.