LOS ALAMITOS : Mercury Will Test Best in Midwest

Mercury, one of the top pacers at Los Alamitos, is taking his winning act on the road this weekend.

The 6-year-old gelding was flown to Ohio Monday for this Saturday’s $100,000 Battle of Lake Erie race at Northfield Park near Cleveland. Mercury, who won last Saturday’s $11,000 Invitational Handicap for pacers here, drew the No. 6 post position in the seven-horse field. In 1991, Mercury has won seven of 12 starts and three of his last four starts.

Marc Aubin, Mercury’s driver and trainer, co-owns the gelding with Carol and W.D. Whitlock and says the Lake Erie will be a tough race. “I’ll keep my fingers fingers crossed,” said Aubin, who will fly back Saturday to drive the gelding. “He won’t do us any shame.”

Mercury was winless in 12 starts last year in New Zealand, but has not been worse than third for Aubin this year at Los Alamitos. Last Saturday night, he took the lead after a quarter-mile and routed four other horses in 1:54 2/5 for the mile, including the last half in 56 seconds.

“He was awesome,” said Aubin, who was the leading percentage driver at Los Alamitos in 1977,’78, ’79 and 1981, and is the eighth-leading driver at the current meet. “It’s a strong last half. On a five-eighths-mile track, that’s about as good as they come.

Vance Lobell, who was fourth in last Saturday’s Invitational, was originally scheduled to also race in the Lake Erie, but trainer Bob Johnson decided to send the 7-year-old gelding to a farm near Palm Springs for a week of rest.

“He didn’t race well last Saturday night,” he said. “I figured he needed the break, so I turned him out for a week. He won’t go back (to the Midwest) until we go at the end of the meet.”

The Lake Erie has drawn some of the nation’s finest pacers. In the field are Dorunrun Bluegrass, the 5-2 morning-line favorite; Jake And Elwood, a winner of $1,917,854, and Dare You To, who was runner-up to TK’s Skipper in the $150,000 American Pacing Classic last September at Los Alamitos. Others entered are Apaches Fame, Covert Action and Global Assault.

Lloyd Arnold, Los Alamitos Racing Assn. president and general manager, is seeking legislation that would reduce the number of racing days from five per week to four for the current harness meet.

Arnold cited short fields and a recent equine virus for the proposed reduction in dates. The new schedule would have four racing days per week: Wednesdays through Saturdays until June 15 and Thursdays through Sundays beginning June 20. The harness season ends July 27.

“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble (getting the bill passed) because labor supports it,” Arnold said. “Our fields have been short. We want to make this competitive so people will come out and bet more. We’ve had to race too many maidens, that’s why we’d like to go to four days--to improve the quality. You just can’t expect a guy to come out here and bet a 2-5 shot.”

Sunday racing begins June 23 and runs five Sundays until July 21. Officials are unsure what impact Sunday racing will have on attendance and handle. On one hand, it will be the first time in many years that harness racing will be held in Southern California on Sunday afternoons. On the other hand, the track will be competing with Hollywood Park on Sunday afternoons and Friday evenings for fans. The Sunday afternoon cards could draw those who normally don’t attend night racing. “We’re in unchartered territory,” Arnold said.

Simulcasts of quarter horse races from Bay Meadows in San Mateo, Calif., has also affected the harness racing handle. Since the simulcasts began May 17, the harness handle has exceeded $1 million only once on a Friday or Saturday night, a figure that used to be achieved regularly on weekends.

“I knew it would have an impact. I just didn’t know how much,” Arnold said. “We’re down 15% since the quarter horses started and that’s more than I thought. I thought the most we’d be down is 10%.”

The average handle for the current meeting, through Friday, including off-track wagering, is $850,040, a 4.9% increase from the 1989-’90 winter-spring meeting. The average attendance of 4,559 is 2.7% behind last year’s. The on-track attendance average is 2,974, .3% above last year, but the on-track handle of $530,947 is 3% off. Los Alamitos fans have bet a daily average of $178,282 on quarter horse races through Friday.

Two-year-olds Shiney Key and You Better You Bet remained undefeated after beating older horses for the second consecutive week and have now been pointed toward richer stakes races.

Shiney Key left Monday with Mercury for Toledo, Ohio, where he will race in the $60,000 W.N. Reynolds Memorial June 14.

Last Friday, Shiney Key beat a field of conditioned horses by three lengths in 1:58 1/5.

You Better You bet also remained undefeated after two starts with a victory Saturday night against California-breds. The colt is owned by Perry DeLuna of Culver City, trained by Robert Gordon and was driven by Joe Anderson. Gordon said the colt will be back in action this weekend in the first of this season’s stakes for 2-year-olds.

“I wanted to give him a couple of races under the lights before he goes for the money in the stakes,” said Gordon, who added the colt will race in four or five stakes races in the next two months before being turned out until February.”