LOS ALAMITOS : Anderson Back, Better Than Ever

After a decade of success as a harness driver and trainer, Joe Anderson switched hats in 1988 and became a thoroughbred trainer.

The Tennessee native sold his 20-horse string of standardbreds and left behind five Los Alamitos training titles and a nine-year streak of at least 100 winning drives. He left with a view from the top, but didn’t stay gone long.

A year later, he began to reacquire harness horses and was back in the bike on opening weekend of the 1989-90 winter meeting. Anderson was the fifth-leading driver that winter and won the driving title last fall. This year, he has been in complete control of the standings and led Ross Croghan, 152-105, through July 4. He is on a pace that would put him over the 200-victory mark, a total he achieved in 1986 and ’87.

“When I came back (to harness racing), my thoroughbreds were turned over to other trainers, and I started from scratch,” Anderson said. “It was difficult, but I’d already changed horses in the middle of the stream once, so it wasn’t anything new to me.”

Anderson won six of 30 races as a thoroughbred trainer, but had trouble dealing with the reduced level of involvement when compared to harness racing. “I loved it. I just didn’t have enough bullets,” said Anderson, who will turn 41 later this month. “At that time, things were going well financially, and I had a chance to try something different. I really enjoyed the racing, but for me--having done this--we’d accumulated 200 horses and went from starting 100 a month to racing three times a month. That part left me anxious. I had gotten used to training, driving and racing every night.

“When (President and General Manager) Lloyd (Arnold) bought this place, I wanted to give it another try,” he said.

Anderson started slowly and acquired a 15-horse stable before Los Alamitos’ 1989-90 winter meeting ended. “It was a little slow at first,” he said. “There’s probably some people who thought I’d jumped ship. As the meet went on, I won my share. It took me a little time to get my timing down and get back in the groove, but not long.”

By the time harness racing returned to Los Alamitos in August of 1990, Anderson was ready. In the 10-week meeting, he won 61 races and beat second-place Rick Kuebler by 17 victories for his first driving title since the winter-spring meeting of 1987. The highlight of the season was the world mile record--1:51 2/5 for an aged horse on a five-eighths-mile track--set by T.K.’s Skipper in the $150,000 American Pacing Classic last September.

Anderson’s stable now consists of 32 horses at Los Alamitos plus 30 more kept at his training center, Rancho Monterey in San Jacinto. Besides being the leading driver, he is the fourth-leading trainer.

“I’ve always done well here,” he said. “If I get the right horses, I can win races. Having 50-60 horses is not that big of a deal when you have the training facility and the race track.”

The 30-acre farm is owned by one of Anderson’s partners, Leonardo Pineda of San Marino, and includes a half-mile training track and a swimming pool for horses. Anderson spends most of his time at the track but stays a few days a week at the farm, which is under the supervision of assistant trainer Pablo Hernandez.

“There’s some long days, but it pays off,” he said. “(The farm) is a more tranquil, docile atmosphere than the race track. It gives a horse a chance to relax. I compare it with a person who works five days a week and goes to Palm Springs the other two.”

Anderson’s top horses this season have included those he trains himself plus drives he has picked up from other trainers. He has teamed with trainer Robert Gordon to give the 2-year-old pacer, You Better You Bet, an undefeated record in six starts. Anderson and trainer John Walker have worked together on the 3-year-old trotting sensation, Mad Milton; and for leading trainer Paul Blumenfeld, Anderson drove the older pacer, Sherman, to victory in the $20,000 New Beginnings Series Final last May.

His own stable is also loaded with talented stock, much of it imported from New Zealand by Frank Ranaldi. “I’ve been lucky with the Down Under horses,” Anderson said. “There, I can get the freshest horses and the ones that haven’t been abused.”

Since the beginning of the year, Anderson has been acquiring horses for Bob Kent’s Bojack Stables. Kent, 44, a golfing partner of Anderson’s, retired last November after selling his foreign auto parts business. The stable bought its first horses in January and within a month owned 10. The five most recent purchases, two months ago, have made the most impact.

King Strike won a conditioned race in May and was seventh in the July 4 Great Western Pace. Easy Guess will race in the Fillies and Mares Invitational Friday. Mount Cargill is entered in Thursday’s Invitational Trot. And Noble Hero is a regular in the Invitational Pace on Saturdays.

Noble Hero, who won the $30,000 Fireball Series Final on June 8, has attracted the most attention from Ranaldi.

“He can go from Point A to Point B very quick,” said the 41-year-old native of Perth, Australia. “He’s caught us a little off guard with what he’s done so quickly.”

Despite the significant investment, Kent has left most of the decisions to Anderson. “I’ve entrusted everything to Joe,” said Kent, of Chino Hills. “I’ve put my faith in him and let him go with it.”

Kent, Ranaldi and Anderson have been busy in recent weeks, planning the stable’s move to Chicago, where they will race this fall after the Los Alamitos season ends. Ranaldi has also revisited New Zealand to inspect racing prospects. Kent, who had been to the races only once before his investment, is looking forward to the Chicago racing.

“The last five (horses) have done so well off the plane,” he said. “We expect to do much better in Chicago. We’ve kind of tested the waters with these 15. Who knows? If things go right, maybe we’ll have 40.”

Anderson has maintained the local stable while planning the move to Chicago, where he will remain for three months before returning to California for next year’s season. Tonight, for example, he will drive in all 10 races; Thursday, he will drive in eight.

Los Alamitos Notes

Tonight’s featured race, the $40,695 Electioneer Futurity for 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings, has drawn a field of seven, including Mad Milton, winner of six in a row and eight of 10 starts this year . . . A five-horse field of invitational trotters tops Thursday’s card. Magic Moose, who has won nine of 15 starts this year, will be the heavy favorite. Two divisions of the Electioneer Futurity Eliminations for 3-year-old trotting fillies are the fourth and sixth races. The final will be run next week.

Friday’s 10-race card will be headlined by the $45,245 Electioneer Futurity for 3-year-old filly pacers, one of the richest races of the meeting. The seven-horse field is led by Bag A Few, who has won nine stakes this year for owner Chris Bardis of Sacramento, a minority partner in Los Alamitos. Bardis recently announced that he was planning to sell his interest in the track.

Miss Racy Vike, a 4-year-old Texas-bred quarter horse, won the $100,000 Remington Park Championship at Oklahoma City last Saturday. The mare won a division of the Jan. 5 Las Damas Handicap at Los Alamitos. Owner George Smith of Victoria, Tex., said Miss Racy Vike will return to California later this year for the Vessels Maturity.