LOS ALAMITOS : On Route Sixtysix, a Special Pacer, Gets Special Birthday Party Sunday

Harness racing owner Sue Boyce of Hacienda Heights is planning a birthday party for a special pacer Sunday.

On Feb. 24, 1986, On Route Sixtysix was foaled at a truck stop shortly after her dam had earned a last-minute reprieve from the slaughterhouse.

According to Boyce, an assistant trainer and former driver, a mixed sale was conducted at Pomona that month at a time that harness fortunes in the state had hit an all-time low.

“They didn’t have a minimum bid on the horses, and the ‘killer guy’ was there from the slaughterhouse,” she said.

“He bought 28 or 29 horses for $100 or $150 each, real low prices. The next day they pulled in the bull wagon, a big metal, double-decker cattle trailer, loaded them up and began the drive to Morton, Tex.

“Wayne and Marcy Knittel of K.B. Farm in Bakersfield found out what was going on, got some of the original owners to buy their horses back and got other people to donate. Wayne called the people at the slaughterhouse and dickered with them while the horses were in the pens.

“He flew out with the money and promised he would have trucks there to pick them up. My husband, Mel, and I are in the horse transportation business. We got two trucks back there, and Rod Grace got a third. We had to pay the drivers and for fuel.

“We picked them up and stopped at a truck stop near Kingman, Ariz., to water the horses and give them hay.”

Boyce knew that Fern’s Baby, the dam of On Route Sixtysix, was pregnant but hoped she could make the trip back to California before foaling.

“The mare’s water broke during that stop and gushed to the bottom of the trailer,” Boyce said. “We pulled her off and broke a bale of hay open. She foaled right there, around 2 in the morning, in a parking lot in a truck stop at Kingman, Ariz.

“We were trying to beat the stork and didn’t do it with her.

“The stop was on Highway 40, which was the old Route 66,” Boyce said.

“We called a vet to check the mare and foal and waited there four or five hours until the foal had nursed and looked healthy enough to go on,” Boyce said. “Then we drove another 10 hours to Bakersfield.”

Fern’s Baby, who had dropped the foal by Solid Fuel, had not been reclaimed by her original owners. “Wayne asked if we wanted the filly,” Boyce said. “My husband really felt for the filly and said yes.

“We kept the mare for six months, too, and donated her to a teen-age girl in Bakersfield as a riding horse.”

Boyce had no idea what kind of horse she had in On Route Sixtysix.

“She stayed at K.B. Farm until the summer of her 2-year-old year, when we sent her to (trainer-driver) Steve Desomer’s farm near Sacramento to be broken,” Boyce said.

“She had her first qualifier in February of her 3-year-old year. I didn’t expect a stakes horse but for $500, Vickie Desomer (her trainer) suggested I nominate just in case.

“She won her third start here, then four of her next five, including the final of the Santa Clara Stakes.”

Boyce, who drove her during most of On Route Sixtysix’s sophomore year, took her to Sacramento in May. The filly won a California Sire Stakes race and ran a lifetime best mile of 1:56 3/5 the next week, equaling the track record in her division. She won seven of 20 starts and earned $35,984 in 1989.

She was injured that summer, however.

“The tractor spun in front of her in the morning at Sacramento and she went over the rail,” Boyce said. “She had internal soreness and wasn’t right again.”

On Route Sixtysix was winless in five starts last year.

“She started to bow (a tendon) and had some surgery on a foreleg on Nov. 1,” Boyce said. “Then she went to the swimming pool at Joe Anderson’s training center (Rancho Monterey in San Jacinto).”

On Route Sixtysix qualified again Jan. 29 at Del Mar, finished fifth in her 1991 debut Feb. 8 and was third Friday, with Anderson.

“She was a little short in her first start and showed improvement last week,” Boyce said. “She goes back to Joe’s pool the day after each race and stays there with his assistant, Pablo Hernandez, until the day before the next race.”

She is entered in the ninth race Thursday.

Boyce is happy to have her favorite horse back on the track but wishes she could drive her at Los Alamitos.

“Because of the driver standards here, they feel the public wouldn’t bet on a driver like me,” Boyce said. “I disagree, but that’s my opinion.

“Fans like to root for the underdog, and I think especially women would put a $2 bet on me. Sixtysix and I were like a team. She was the filly with the girl trainer (Vickie Desomer) and girl driver.”

Los Alamitos Notes

Lloyd Arnold, president and general manager of Los Alamitos, hopes to straighten out problems with the track’s totalizator system and satellite sites in Nevada after a nightmarish Friday. A series of computer malfunctions resulted in more than $26,000 being overpaid in Pick Six bets and the cancellation of business at 14 Nevada off-track sites Saturday by the Nevada Gaming Commission. Arnold threatened to change tote companies from AmTote to United Tote.

“I’ve been talking with both companies the last two days,” he said. “I told AmTote I was disgusted with their company and we can’t put up with this. United Tote said they could take over within a week.”

Erroneous Pick Six prices were posted for several minutes before being corrected. Arnold said that two tickets for $6,164 were paid out before the price was corrected to $1,761.60 and that 48 tickets with inflated values for five winners were also cashed. Another computer problem prevented Nevada fans from making Pick Three (triple) wagers.

“Nevada said they couldn’t take our races until we got our problems straightened out,” Arnold said. “Now we’ll have to retest, and that will probably cost us most of this week.

“The crowning blow was the last race. A 5-1 shot won, and they put up $3.20 to win. Naturally, the crowd booed. They took the result down, recalculated, and it took 25 minutes before they got the right price ($12.60) up at 12:25. The fans were unhappy, and rightfully so.”

Leading driver Rich Kuebler and pacer Glasair showed their grit by finishing third in the second race Saturday, after a scary warm-up spill.

“I was just starting to pick up momentum with him when the left lead line snapped,” Kuebler said. “He was going at full gallop, horses were coming the other way, and I was doing some screaming! The bike finally hooked the rail and disintegrated. I landed on the track but only aggravated a pinched nerve in my neck.”

Kuebler will serve a three-day suspension. . . . Pete Foley will serve a five-day suspension this week for causing interference in separate races last week.

Carlo Fisco is combining law school with winning drives. The 34-year-old native of Windsor, Canada, drove Court’s Choice to victory in a $2,400 trot Saturday.

“It’s been a couple of years since I won a race here,” he said. “I’m in my second year of law school at the University of West Los Angeles. I’m in class 12 hours a week and spend twice that time studying. The other time I’m here.”

Long-time Hollywood Park harness racing official Dick Williams, retired at 74, was honored as the starter for the feature Saturday.