LOS ALAMITOS : Staley-Ackerman: a Perfect Match

Richard Staley visited Hollywood Park in 1970 and liked what he heard at a fans’ harness racing seminar.

“I was speaking about breaking colts,” recalled trainer Doug Ackerman last week at Los Alamitos. “He came up to me afterward and met me.”

Both Midwesteners, they took to one another immediately.

Ackerman helped Staley buy his fist standardbred in 1971. Staley and his “Ack-Ack Attack”--Doug and his son, D.R.--have formed one of harness racing’s most successful teams for the last 20 years.

“I’ve never had one cross word with him, never one disagreement,” said Ackerman. “He now has about 90 horses, including about 30 of the 43 horses I have in training here.”

Staley, who lives in La Jolla after having spent many years in Los Angeles, grew up in Illinois. His grandfather started the Staley Corporation, the second-largest processor of corn and soybeans in the country, and also owned a football team called the Decatur Staleys, which evolved into the Chicago Bears after they were turned over to George Halas.

In the Ackermans, Staley found a family whose ancestry in harness racing horses went back as far as his grandfather’s football team.

“My father and grandfather were both harness trainers,” said Doug, 63. “I grew up in Michigan and Indiana. My father, Rollin, went to a sale in 1930 and bought three chestnuts by The Senator for $275, $150 and $125. The best one wound up being one of the better trotters in the country.

“My father died in a race on the Fourth of July in Hillsdale, Mich., when I was 14 and he was 48. I thought 48 was pretty old then.”

The Ackermans rank near the top as America’s No. 1 harness racing family. Doug’s brother, Jack, still drives in Chicago.

“My wife (Ada Jean) is the daughter of Foy Funderburk, a successful harness driver out here for years.” said Doug. “I met her at Hollywood Park in 1950. She came out in 1946 and has been at every race in Southern California.

Doug and Ada Jean have two children, D.R. (Douglas Rollin) and Connie, a Chicago harness official who is married to trainer-driver Homer Hochstetler. D.R. and wife Angelika have two sons, Doug Jr., 5, and Kevin, 2. Both already spend time around the barn.

“I’m bred to do this,” said D.R., 32. “I never had another job but working with horses and never worked for anybody but Dad.

“I drove my first race in a Del Mar matinee at 12 (winning with a pacer named Gunsmith). I had my fair license when I was 16, graduated six months early from Torrey Pines High School and got my parimutuel license at 18.”

Doug and D.R. are reliable, no-nonsense types deeply ingrained with a work ethic passed down through several generations.

“You’ve got to come to work every day, and you’ve got to come to work,” D.R. said. “You do that and you prosper.”

The senior Ackerman similarly attributed the family’s success to hard work.

“I never outsmarted anybody, just outworked them maybe,” Doug said.

The Ackerman’s hard work has led to several star horses for owner Staley.

“We’ve had two 2-year-old trotting champions, Noble Hustle (1979) and Self Confident (1981),” Doug said. “We had Crowning Point, who trotted in 1:54 and sired Harmonious, winner of the Hambletonian last year.

“We also had Denali, a top pacer out here, and Albaquel, a mare who paced in 1:53 3/5 before it was fashionable. She is the dam of two good free-for-all pacers, Just The Ticket and Ever So Rich, each of whom has earned more than half a million.”

Staley, who is recovering from back surgery, was named Grand Circuit man of the year last year after owning several standouts.

Staley and the Ackermans are looking forward to the 3-year-old debuts of trotter Wall Street Banker and pacers Interpretor and Black Gold Road in about a month.

“Wall Street Banker won four in a row at the Meadowlands last year but went lame after the Peter Haughton Memorial Stakes,” Doug said. “But he’s awful good now.

“He’s a full brother to Valley Victory (1988 2-year-old trotting champion) and cost $110,000 as a yearling. Another full brother was sold for $320,000 as a yearling last year. “

Wall Street Banker earned $146,372 last year.

Interpretor paced a 1:53 3/5 mile at Lexington and earned $174,930.

Los Alamitos Notes

Trainer-driver Greg Wright visited Los Alamitos for the first time last week and said he would probably move most of his stable here next year. Wright, a 45-year-old native of Windsor, Canada, has been a leading horseman on the Windsor-Detroit circuit and at the New Jersey Meadowlands. He has driven 2,870 winners during the last 27 years.

Southland-owned Dare You To, a 6-year old horse who is the first United States representative in the Inter-Dominion Pacing Championship, ranks as one of the favorites in the $500,000 final this weekend at 1 5/8 miles at Aleaxandra Park in Auckland, New Zealand. Dare You To won the second leg last week at 1,700 meters in 2:02.6, equaling a track and national record, and last weekend finished second in the third leg at 2,200 meters. He is owned by Joe Alflen of Redondo Beach.

Lepton, 1990 California-bred harness horse of the year, was scratched from the distaff invitational pace last Friday after developing a pus pocket in her left front foot and will be out about a month, according to driver Ross Coughan. . . . Two In A Teepee, Cal-bred 2-year-old filly champion pacer of 1990, is scheduled to qualify Saturday for trainer Jim Perez after being sidelined with a leg infection.