LOS ALAMITOS : Is This Year See Me Do It Does It?

In 1990, See Me Do It came to Los Alamitos as the defending world champion quarter horse and the reigning queen of the sport. That summer, she’d won a major stakes at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico and appeared ready to defend her title in the Champion of Champions.

The exact opposite occurred. She ran fourth in the Breeders’ Championship Classic and was placed eighth in the Champion of Champions after finishing fifth and bothering half the field. The Champion of Champions winner--Dash For Speed--was named world champion.

For the third consecutive year, See Me Do It has returned to Los Alamitos, but this time her connections are hoping to correct a damaged reputation.

She won a $10,000 allowance race in easy fashion Sunday in her first start since placing second at Ruidoso Downs on Aug. 11. It was her first Los Alamitos start since last year’s Champion of Champions fiasco.

Breaking from the outside of the six-horse field, she won the 350-yard race wire to wire under Larry Layton in 17.53 seconds, fast enough for a half-length victory over the 3-year-old filly, Fusion Illusion, a stakes winner in September.

See Me Do It, owned by her breeder, Jean Dillard of Ringling, Okla., has a new trainer this year in Blane Schvaneveldt, the leading trainer of the meeting. Robert Turner, who trained See Me Do It in 1989 and ‘90, stayed in Oklahoma this year to work with younger horses.

“We’ll see how she comes back and go from there,” Schvaneveldt said. “We have to get her eligible (for the Champion of Champions) before we can run in it. We can’t worry about that until then.”

Schvaneveldt said the Los Alamitos Championship on Oct. 19 or the Breeders’ Championship Classic on Nov. 9 are possibilities. Both races carry automatic berths in the Champion of Champions on Dec. 21, while second- and third-place finishes carry invitations to the Champion of Champions trials on Dec. 7. At least two berths in the Champion of Champions are determined by trials, and this year as many as four spots could be at stake.

Layton, like Dillard, is probably looking forward to the big races with great anticipation. He has ridden See Me Do It since the summer of ’89. Layton was aboard for the ’89 Champion of Champions and last year’s disqualification.

“I look forward to her doing well,” said Layton, of Talala, Okla. “It makes them famous when they beat her.

“It couldn’t have been any worse (last year), but bad luck’s going to get to you sooner or later.”

Dr. Kenneth Wright stood on the track apron moments after Jazzing Hi’s victory in last Saturday’s $134,200 Vessels Maturity and sounded more like a boxing promoter than a horse owner.

He pouted, he praised, but most of all he took the moment to enjoy the spotlight as the co-owner of a 5-year-old horse who stepped to the fore of the nation’s older quarter horse division with a head victory over longshot Miss Racy Vike.

Wright, of Fresno, co-owns Jazzing Hi with the breeder, Wayne Charlton of Ogden, Utah. The horse is trained by Charlton’s nephew, Daryn Charlton, who also saddled 3-5 favorite Apprehend, the seventh-place finisher after a poor start.

“This is a huge race,” Wright said. “We’re the only horse to win the Vessels twice--think of the trivia.

Jazzing Hi won the Vessels last year en route to the Champion Aged Stallion title.

“Now I get to go to the Champion of Champions,” Wright said. “(There) the rest of them are going to see a nice-looking horse’s (tail).”

This was the first year the Vessels Maturity was open to 4-year-olds and older, enabling Jazzing Hi to be the first dual winner. The race carries an automatic berth to the Champion of Champions, a race in which Jazzing Hi finished a troubled fourth last year.

Daryn Charlton wasn’t sure where he’d start Jazzing Hi or Apprehend next, but the Los Alamitos Championship and the Breeders’ Championship Classic are obvious possibilities. “I’ll let the horses tell me what to do,” he said.

In the Vessels, Jazzing Hi hit the lead in the final strides to edge Miss Racy Vike and 47-1 longshot Dadburn Swift. “We won in the last two jumps,” winning jockey Bruce Pilkenton said.

Baychaino, the 1990 champion distance horse, and Griswold, the world record-holder at 870 yards, head a strong field Thursday in the $20,000 Endurance Handicap. The seven-horse race has drawn all of the major 870-yard runners in the nation with the exception of Speedy Lunch, a double stakes winner at Pomona, who is taking a month off.

From the rail out, this is the field: Baychaino, jockey Ralph Pauline; Shake Six, Eddie Garcia; Griswold, Henry Garcia; Six Figures, Kip Didericksen; Queen Auntie, Ralph Seville; the thoroughbred Bailarin, Pilkenton; and Ferrari, G.R. Carter.

Griswold, a 5-year-old full brother to Apprehend, has a new jockey in Henry Garcia and a new trainer in Daryn Charlton, who replaces the recently retired Dan Francisco.

“Our main deal is to have him ready for the Marathon Invitational (on Dec. 20) and the Bull Rastus Invitational in January,” Charlton said. “If he comes back like (before), we’ll kind of pick our spots and hope for the best.”

Charlton considered scratching Griswold over the weekend, but by the beginning of the week was leaning toward running Thursday night. Griswold has lost his last three starts, but last winter set a 870-yard world record twice, including the current mark of 43.99 seconds.

Baychaino, who was placed fourth after being the victim of interference on the turn at Pomona on Sept. 28, is winless in four starts this year. “He’ll like the inside,” trainer Charles Treece said. “At Pomona, he got wiped out completely, but I think he’ll run a good race (Thursday).”

Queen Auntie, the only mare in the race, has won all three of her starts this year, including a victory over Baychaino in the Pap Handicap on Sept. 19 at Los Alamitos. “This looks like it may be a little tougher than the last one,” said Queen Auntie’s trainer, James Maple.

The two biggest 870-yard races in the nation are scheduled for later in the meeting: the $100,000 Marathon invitational on Dec. 20 and the $75,000 Bull Rastus Invitational. The date for the Bull Rastus is listed as Feb. 7, but the race will be moved up three or four weeks if a request to shorten the current quarter horse meet is approved by the California Horse Racing Board.