LOS ALAMITOS : Two Victories <i> in Absentia</i> Are Bittersweet for Trainer

It was a bittersweet week for exiled trainer Caesar Dominguez.

Dominguez, who has been barred from California tracks since August, when one of his quarter horses tested positive for a prohibited substance, was happy to learn that two 3-year-olds he was responsible for buying and once training had won rich Southland stakes.

He was unhappy not to have been there in person to saddle them, instead of having to rely on telephone calls from friends, radio reports and television replays in his La Habra Heights home.

Henry Dominguez, Caesar’s younger brother and former assistant, took over the quarter horse and thoroughbred stables and last week saddled champion Takin On The Cash, the winner in the $136,000 El Primero Del Ano Derby at Los Alamitos, and Simple Surprise, the upset winner of the $139,400 California Breeders’ Champion Stakes filly division at Santa Anita.

On Tuesday, Caesar Dominguez learned from his lawyer, Conrad Klein, that the California Horse Racing Board had officially reduced his suspension from one year to six months. The lessened sentence was in response to criticism the CHRB received for its inconclusive testing procedures and inconsistent actions after positive tests for a metabolite of cocaine involving thoroughbreds, quarter horses and standardbreds last month.

“Sure, you’re bitter,” said Dominguez, who plans to file for reinstatement of his license Feb. 28. “I got a very bum deal. I was used as a scapegoat. There are six months I can’t account for.

“Under the trainer responsibility rule, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t think this drug that is showing up is coming from the trainers. It doesn’t make any sense. I think it’s coming from the labs. Still, my test was from a race last May. Last month, the CHRB admits it has positives from June of 1989 that haven’t been ruled on. I still need to sit down with my attorney to discuss filing a lawsuit.”

Dominguez, 41, has been a leading quarter horse trainer, with 1,067 victories and $5,449,838 in earnings during an 18-year career. His stable included 90 quarter horses and 25 thoroughbreds.

During the last five months, he has worked with horses at ranches in Moreno Valley and Fresno and has spent more time at home. He found a silver lining during the experience.

“I have a wife and three daughters and during this period I learned I had family,” Dominguez said. “I used to work from early morning until late at night. My neighbors used to kid my wife that they didn’t think she was married because they never saw me.

“I found time to chop down a lot of cottonwoods I didn’t like in the back yard. I got to relax and enjoy my family. I realized there is another life besides the race track, the whole world doesn’t revolve around it, and you don’t have to be at the barn 24 hours a day.

“I feel good that my clients were loyal and did not leave and that the horses are running so well. Henry has done more in five months than most trainers do in a lifetime. He won Appaloosa, Arabian, quarter horse and thoroughbred races in a 24-hour period. I bet nobody’s done that before.

“The horses will go back under my name the first day I’m licensed, and Henry will go back as my assistant. I expect he will go out on his own before long.”

Caesar will have to wait three months to saddle his next quarter horse, since the Los Alamitos session closes Saturday and the next meet in California is expected to begin at Bay Meadows in May.

Dominguez said he will continue training quarter horses as long as he has such top performers as Takin On The Cash, but envisions the day when he switches entirely to thoroughbreds.

He spotted Takin On The Cash for owner Felipe Tiscareno as a $55,000 yearling bargain and has seen the colt earn more than $420,000. He went to a Del Mar yearling sale with owner Rick Evans and purchased Simple Surprise for $4,500.

Dominguez was half-owner of Simple Surprise until the suspension began, when he sold out to Evans. Thus the suspension cost him half of the $83,400 first prize last week.

“Rick promised me I had the option of buying half back when I’m reinstated,” Dominguez said. “This victory helps her breeding value.”

Dominguez said he has spent $45,000 in legal fees and was required to pay a $5,000 fine that went along with the suspension. But what hurt most, he said, is the pain endured by “my kids going to school and hearing other kids say, ‘Your daddy is doping horses.’ ”

Meanwhile, trainer Russell Harris began a hearing with Los Alamitos stewards Tuesday for a horse who tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine in November.

“If this happened to a thoroughbred trainer and I met with the thoroughbred stewards, I’d feel a lot more confident than with the quarter horse stewards here,” Harris said.

“If they give me any sort of penalty or fine, I’m going to take the matter to civil court. I haven’t done anything wrong and I’ve never had a mark on my record . . . “

Most trainers spend a lifetime without a national champion.

Daryn Charlton, 27, trained two in 1990.

Vessels Maturity winner Jazzing Hi was voted champion aged stallion, and Governor’s Cup Derby winner Apprehend, owned by Pete Parrella’s Legacy Ranch of Chino, was honored as champion 3-year-old gelding.

Charlton, a native of Ogden, Utah, will saddle the two Saturday night in the $100,000 HQHRA Championship at 440 yards.

Tee Roy Reb, voted national champion aged gelding last year, will be in a star-studded lineup that also includes Heisajoy, Dashin Dee Dee, Dashing Val, Lil Bit Rusty, Miss Racy Vike, Ourautograph and Tempered Class.

Los Alamitos Notes

Dr. Edward Allred of Long Beach was honored last week as the leading quarter horse owner in the nation in 1990, even though his horses failed to win a stakes race. His horses were placed in stakes 13 times and earned more than $400,000 in purses. He avoided a similar shutout in 1991 when How Special won the $138,000 La Primera Del Ano Derby Friday.

“We bought her older full sister at a yearling sale the previous year for $50,000 or $60,000 and she had physical problems and never started,” Allred said. “But we liked the breeding (Special Effort-Baby Hold On, by Dash For Cash) and bought How Special as a yearling for $38,000. I won this race with Go Proudly in 1983--when the purse was $238,000.”

Trainer Bruce Hawkinson said the filly would be pointed toward the Golden State Derby at Bay Meadows next summer, where she could clash with Takin On The Cash, who won the El Primero Del Ano Derby the next night in stakes-record time of 19.62 seconds for the 400 yards.

Griswold, who set a world record of 44.07 seconds for 870 yards earlier at the meet, will carry high weight of 125 pounds over that distance in the $50,000-added Bull Rastus Handicap Friday.

After 68 days of the 73-day meeting, overall handle is averaging $1,077,731, up 9.6% over the fall meeting last year, and on-track attendance is averaging 3,605, up 7.9% over last year.