LOS ALAMITOS : Outside Post May Hurt Roan Spirit

In late March, trainer Mickey Di Franco decided to give Roan Spirit a four-week vacation, wanting a fresh charge for the lucrative races on the summer stakes schedule.

In late February and early March, Di Franco had trained and driven the horse to three consecutive victories but kept a long-term goal in mind--Thursday’s $50,000 Great Western Pace, the richest race of the season.

Roan Spirit, owned by Susan Tildenof Stanton and Gerald Kruglik of Van Nuys, lost the first seven races after his holiday but was an impressive winner last Friday in the third leg of the Great Western Pace. He set a world record for 1 1/4 miles on a five-eighths-mile track with a time of 2:24 4/5, which was two-fifths of a second faster than the mark of 2:25 1/5 set by Mercury on June 21 at Los Alamitos.

“It was a big effort,” Di Franco said. “After the wire, I just tapped him again and he took off. He made a little break leaving there, but I think he was just trying to overpace. Sometimes it takes him an eighth of a mile to settle down.”

In Thursday night’s 1 5/8-mile final, the 10th race of the program, he will have plenty of time to settle down and get comfortable. Roan Spirit drew the outside post position, No. 9. From the rail, the field will line up as follows: King Strike, Sherman, Captain Riki, Mercury, Positron, Glenburn Star, Parties Galore, Positive Spirit, Roan Spirit and Runaway Groom. Runaway Groom will start from the second tier directly behind King Strike.

Di Franco figures that the main competition will be Mercury, who won the second leg at 1 1/4 miles, and Runaway Groom, who won the one-mile first leg and finished second in the next two.

“This is the biggest race of Roan Spirit’s career. I just wish I had a better post,” Di Franco said. “He can’t leave there, so I figure I’ll be 10th (early). Sometimes, you’re better off back there if there’s a lot of speed (up front). If the pace is hot and I’m third or fourth over, I’ll have a good chance.”

Di Franco never panicked during Roan Spirit’s seven-race slump but said the horse was hindered by bad racing luck and bad post positions.

“He’d get behind dead (tiring) horses, and I’d have to go three or four wide,” Di Franco said. “I knew he had some bad racing luck, but I didn’t abuse him because he’s a nice horse. I try to give him the best trip I can without hurting him. He just turned 4 last week and he’s up against horses that are 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds, that’s not bad for a California-bred.”

Although Roan Spirit’s birthday was last week, he has been considered a 4-year-old since Jan. 1, the day all horses have an observed birthday. As a 3-year-old, he won six of 21 starts and $26,426, including the California Gold Series.

Roan Spirit’s come-from-behind style will be a contrast to probable favorite Mercury, who could easily be on or near the lead, as he was while winning the second leg by 1 1/4 lengths June 21, when Roan Spirit finished fourth, beaten by four lengths. Mercury’s driver and trainer, Marc Aubin, skipped the third leg because Mercury’s second-leg victory was worth enough money to guarantee a spot in the final.

Instead, Aubin shortened the 7-year-old gelding to a mile in the $11,000 Invitational Handicap Saturday, which he won in 1:54 1/5. “I’m very happy with him right now,” said Aubin of Mercury, who has won nine of 16 starts this year. “Things went my way (Saturday) night and not (second-place finisher) Vance Lobell’s. Vance did all the work, and I followed him (to the front).”

Runaway Groom has been impressive throughout the series for driver-trainer James Todd, who co-owns the 6-year-old gelding with Paul Actkinson. Todd acquired Runaway Groom last spring and immediately nominated him to the Great Western Pace. He was bred in New Zealand and took a little while to become acclimated to the United States, but in his last seven starts, he has three victories and two seconds.

“He didn’t look like he’d be anything but a $20,000 claimer,” Todd said. “A guy is looking for a surprise like this.”

Two In A Teepee’s victory in last Friday’s $27,200 California Breeder’s Championship was a bittersweet victory for trainer Jimmy Perez. The 3-year-old filly beat archrival Bag A Few impressively but stressed a tendon in the final eighth of a mile and is questionable for the remainder of the meeting.

Two In A Teepee has won four of nine starts this year, including three stakes. She was the 2-year-old filly pacer of the 1990 summer/fall meeting, but has been overshadowed this year by Bag A Few, who has won 13 of 16 races, including nine stakes.

On June 21, the fillies battled for the last eighth of a mile before Bag A Few prevailed by a nose. Last Friday, Two In A Teepee was able to defeat Bag A Few for the first time this year.

“(Driver) Gene (Vallandingham) said in the last eighth she was hurting and going on heart alone,” said Perez, who trains the filly for his parents, Andrew and Victoria Perez of Diamond Bar. “She’s never had any trouble before. She’s always been a sound mare.”

Perez, who paid $7,000 for Two In A Teepee at a yearling sale in 1989, said the filly will return in February to race in the Fillies and Mares Invitational Handicap division.

“Her next stakes is two weeks away (Electioneer futurity eliminations on July 12), and if we make it, we’ll go; and if not, we won’t,” said Perez, who at 24 is one of the more successful young trainers at Los Alamitos. “We’ll just play it day to day. It’s nothing that’s going to jeopardize her racing career in the long term.”

Los Alamitos Notes

Driver Robert Reeser was suspended for five racing programs from Thursday through next Wednesday because of reckless driving in Saturday’s fifth race that caused his horse, Guns N Roses, to be disqualified from second to third. . . . Post time on Sundays for the remainder of the meeting is 1:45 p.m. Sunday racing continues July 7, 14 and 21. The harness meeting concludes on July 27.

The 1991 Pacesetter Sale of yearlings is scheduled for noon July 20 at Los Alamitos. The catalogue for the sale includes 82 horses. . . . The bill to repair the damage done to the satellite dish June 23, which prevented the track from sending its video feed to off-track patrons was $1,200, according to director of operations Leonard Stephens. The reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the sabotage has been increased to $30,000 by a $5,000 contribution from horsemen.

Tonight’s 10-race card is highlighted by the fifth race, a $20,000 California Sires Stakes for 2-year-old trotters. The eight-horse field is headed by Mariahs Mystic and Start Hangover. . . . The track is offering two 10-race programs Thursday. The afternoon session, which begins at 12:45 p.m., includes a $20,000 California Sires Stakes for 2-year-old filly trotters. The evening program, which starts at 5:45 p.m., will be highlighted by the Great Western Pace. A fireworks display follows the evening program.