LOS ALAMITOS : Top Trotting Geldings Meet Tonight

Magic Moose and Mad Milton have dominated Los Alamitos trotters this summer, with winning streaks of five and seven races, respectively. Tonight, the two will meet for the first time in the second race, a six-horse invitational.

Magic Moose’s five consecutive victories have been in invitationals against some of the top trotters on the grounds. His last loss was on April 30. Mad Milton is unbeaten since May 15 against the 3-year-old trotters and has won seven consecutive races.

Both Magic Moose and Mad Milton are track record-holders. Mad Milton, who is owned by trainer John Walker, Milton Kramer of San Francisco and David Neumeister of Bakersfield, holds the mark for 3-year-old geldings of 1:58 1/5 set May 1. Magic Moose, owned by Winn Schwyhart of Oakland, trained by Pete Foley and driven by Jack Parker Jr., holds the older-geldings mark of 1:56 4/5 set in October, which is also the fastest trotting mile in track history.

Magic Moose will start from the outside, while Mad Milton will have the No. 4 post. BH Dynamite, Nothing Ventured, Mount Cargill and Piece Deresistance complete the field.

Mad Milton has impressed Walker so much this summer that the trainer might enter the gelding in the $550,000 World Trotting Derby at DuQuoin, Ill., on Aug. 31 and in a few races at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. The gelding is not eligible for the Hambletonian.

“He hasn’t been tested here,” Walker said. “He’ll have to drop five seconds (off his time). Back there, they go miles in (1 minute) 56 (seconds). He goes (a quarter-mile) in 29 seconds like some horses go in 32. He doesn’t know what it’s like to work, but he’ll have to work for it in the (invitational).”

Mad Milton will have a new driver tonight. Marc Aubin will replace Joe Anderson, who will drive Mount Cargill, a gelding he also trains.

Foley has seen challengers come and go against Magic Moose all summer. Mount Cargill, Nothing Ventured and, most recently, Piece Deresistance have attempted to dethrone Magic Moose. Piece Deresistance came the closest last week, losing by a neck.

“We’ve taken on all comers,” said Foley, who plans to take Magic Moose to Toronto, Batavia, N.Y., and Chicago for stakes races in the next few months. “He beat Joe’s horse (Mount Cargill) and he beat Piece Deresistance. This will make a good race.”

Purses for overnight races were cut 20% effective last Wednesday, reflecting the impact that competition has had on the harness meeting in the last two months.

The purse for tonight’s invitational trot is $8,800, down from $11,000 June 26. The purse for $6,000 claimers, the lowest level at Los Alamitos, has been reduced from $1,700 to $1,400.

The track has suffered from a combination of bad luck and stiff competition from other breeds. Simulcasts of quarter horse races from Bay Meadows in San Mateo began May 17. Combined with the harness programs, this has offered bettors as many as 24 betting events a night. In June, Hollywood Park began a series of Friday night cards that created competition not only in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, but also at the numerous off-track locations throughout the state.

Sunday racing, which officials hoped would improve the attendance and handle, has fallen short of expectations for many reasons. The first Sunday, June 23, was ruined by vandals who disrupted the broadcast to off-track locations. The track estimated it lost $500,000 in handle that day. The next Sunday, many satellite locations did not receive race programs.

Consequently, the handle has dropped in recent months, and so have purses. Through Sunday, the average handle for the current meeting, including off-track wagering, is $797,979, an 0.7% decrease from the 1989-90 winter-spring meeting. The on-track handle of $505,436 reflects an 8.5% decrease. As recently as early June, the total handle showed a 4.9% increase compared to last year’s meeting.

Racing Secretary Ron Goldman said purses would have been cut earlier in the meeting had it not been for a surplus that was accumulated earlier in the year. The decrease wiped out a 10% increase that went into effect last March 5. “From opening day (Feb. 8), it’s only a cut of 10%. We had four months of the purse increase and one month of a decrease,” Goldman said.

Los Alamitos will play host to a fund-raising event to benefit Los Angeles Unified School District teachers Sunday. Admission proceeds from the program will be donated to the teachers, who face up to 2,000 layoffs because of budget cutbacks in L.A. schools.

General admission tickets for the 13-race program, which starts at 1:45 p.m., will cost $5. A prerace infield picnic, with tickets priced at $15, is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Three celebrity harness races will be held, with Timothy Busfield of the “thirtysomething” TV series as host.

Los Alamitos Notes

In addition to tonight’s invitational trot, there will be a $16,137 California Breeders’ Championship for 2-year-old trotting colts. The race, a non-betting event scheduled for 7:15 p.m., has drawn only five entrants, including two-time stakes winner Mariah’s Mystic from Nicol Tremblay’s barn. The colt won stakes against the same horses he will face tonight on June 19 and July 3. First post for the 10-race betting program is 7:30 p.m.

Thursday’s program will have two feature races--the $11,396 California Breeders’ Championship for 2-year-old trotting fillies and the $47,395 Electioneer Futurity final for 3-year-old trotting fillies. . . . Full sisters Top Doll and Exclusive Miss should be favored in the stakes. Top Doll is part of a three-horse entry in the 2-year-old race with Stock Holding and War At Home. All three are stakes winners at this meeting, but War At Home is the strongest member of the entry with a three-for-three record, all stakes victories. She is trained and driven by Mickey DiFranco for owners Melvin and Susan Boyce and Gerald Kruglik. . . . Top Doll’s older sister, Exclusive Miss, should be favored in the Electioneer based on her impressive victory in last week’s elimination. She drew the No. 2 post position in the 10-horse field for the second-richest race of the meeting--behind the $50,000 Great Western Pace July 4. Exclusive Miss has won seven of 18 races this year.

Friday’s feature will be the third race, the $14,660 California Breeders’ Championship for 2-year-old pacing fillies. The 10-horse field has drawn stakes winners Nighty Night, Uppity Broad and First Knockout. Nighty Night, who is trained and driven by Rick Plano, appears to have the advantage. She has won her last two races impressively, including one against older California-bred fillies and mares Friday night in 1:59 4/5. On July 5, she won a California Sires Stakes by almost six lengths over First Knockout, who had beaten Nighty Night three times in June. Purchased last summer for $29,500, Nighty Night is owned by Paul Reddam, Nick Kareotes and Plano’s wife, Maryann.

Friday’s invitational for fillies and mares has attracted Bag A Few, a 3-year-old who is starting in this division for the first time, and Cool Charm Girl, who has won three consecutive invitationals. . . . Quarter horse simulcasts from Bay Meadows will conclude Saturday.