LOS ALAMITOS : My Escalon’s Luck Still Mostly Bad

A little more than 100 yards from the finish of last Friday night’s Los Alamitos Derby, My Escalon was running the race of his life. The 3-year-old gelding had a small lead and appeared on his way to an upset victory in the $174,500 race when his left rein broke.

Jockey Jim Lewis grabbed the top of the gelding’s bridle with his left hand and tried to control the horse. It was losing battle.

Racing from the No. 3 post position, My Escalon veered out sharply in the final yards and forcing several jockeys to take up their mounts sharply. It was a minor miracle that no horses fell.

My Escalon crossed the finish line half a length in front, but was disqualified and placed last. Frisco Flare, who broke from the No. 2 post and avoided the trouble, was awarded the victory. Lewis, trainer Bret Layne and owner Margaret Leard walked away with nothing.

In a way, the race mirrored My Escalon’s career. He has won six of 21 starts, one the minor Wine Country Derby at Santa Rosa, but has missed the big prizes. Since the spring of 1990, he has been second in the Governor’s Cup Futurity and third in the Bay Meadows Futurity and Governor’s Cup Derby.

“When my inside rein broke, I had no control,” said Lewis, who is tied for seventh in the jockey standings. “I lost my balance and grabbed the mane and the headstall (part of the bridle). He was running a big race.”

Layne was stunned by the loss. In September, he qualified three horses for the Governor’s Cup Derby, but managed only a third with My Escalon. My Escalon was the third-fastest qualifier in the Los Alamitos Derby and had finished second to top qualifier Royal Bushwhacker in the trials.

Royal Bushwhacker, Junos Request, Make It Known, Vital Sign and Tolls Touch were caught in the traffic jam and lost all chance in the Derby.

Layne said that My Escalon came out of the race in good condition and will be pointed to the Southern California Derby trials Nov. 20.

“He came out of it with no problems except to . . . our egos,” he said. “He’s sharp as a tack right now. I’m sorry that it happened. We didn’t make any money, but the only consolation was, we outran them.

“Everyone who’s been involved with this horse deserved to win,” he said. “It’s taken the best horses to beat him. The horse has been so underrated. He’s never missed the finals. If that rein wouldn’t have broken, I think we would have beaten them anyhow.

“It was completely out of my control. I would have felt bad if I would have used poor tack, but I checked it. It was like brand-new. That was the first time I used (the reins). I could have had any one of 100 bridles and it wouldn’t have happened.”

Aside from the disappointment of last Friday’s Derby, Lewis and Layne are having good seasons. Lewis finished the spring-summer meeting at Bay Meadows tied for third in the jockey standings. Layne has saddled horses for most of the year’s major stakes, including several Grade I events.

Lewis, 34, and Layne, 31, both grew up in Utah and participated in rodeo as youngsters.

Lewis began riding at 16 in Idaho and Utah. He then moved to the Northwest circuit, which includes tracks in Montana, Washington and Idaho. He moved to Los Alamitos in 1984.

“Last year and this year have been my best years,” said Lewis, who ranked 17th last year in races won. “This year, I’m starting to ride more horses, the stakes kind of horses.”

Layne has been a lifetime horsemen. He was born in Salt Lake City but moved with his family to Modesto in Northern California when he was 5. His father, Bart, was a Los Alamitos trainer and it wasn’t uncommon for Bart’s four sons to supply most of the trainer’s summertime help.

But like Lewis, Layne had rodeo in his blood and a partial rodeo scholarship to Utah State led him back there in the early ‘80s. He was a four-time qualifier for the College National Finals and was also working with horses to help pay his school expenses.

“That’s how I put myself through college,” he said. “I broke colts. All the rest of the guys worked at hamburger places for $3.50 an hour. Horses paid for my education. I’d go to class until 1, break colts until dark and then close the library down.”

Lane graduated in 1984 with an economics degree and came to Los Alamitos as a trainer in the winter of 1987-88. He trains 16 horses, several for Barney and Margaret Leard of Saratoga, Calif.

“I owe a lot to Barney and Margaret,” he said. “They’ve socked a lot into the horse business. He seems to have a knack for buying these horses. We’ve mapped out a plan for these horses and it’s worked.”

The Leards also own Reign Of Terror, who should be a strong favorite in tonight’s seventh race, the second division of the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Assn. Breeders Futurity trials.

The 2-year-old gelding was eighth in the Ed Burke Futurity and sixth in the Governor’s Cup Futurity, both at Los Alamitos. Layne will saddle the horse and Lewis has the mount.

The California Horse Racing Board approved the 1992 night schedule at their October meeting in Monrovia last Friday, despite strong opposition by thoroughbred interests. As a result, quarter horses will race a 10-week meeting at Hollywood Park next summer and fall.

The new schedule has the current quarter horse meeting ending on Jan. 18, instead of Feb. 8. Quarter horses will resume for a 13-week meeting at Los Alamitos from May 1 to July 25, shift to Hollywood Park from Aug. 19 to Oct. 25, and resume at Los Alamitos on Nov. 20 to mid-January, 1993.

Harness racing will began at Los Alamitos on Jan. 24 and end on April 25, the night of the $250,000 Shelly Goudreau Memorial Pace. Harness racing shifts to Sacramento from May 8 to Aug. 8 and resumes at Los Alamitos from Aug. 21 to Nov. 14.

The Orange County Racing Fair--which this year conducted a thoroughbred, quarter horse and Arabian meeting--will have a three-week meeting from July 25 to Aug. 15

“If we can’t make it with this schedule, then we can’t make it,” said Brad McKinzie, the vice president and general manager of the Horsemen’s Quarter Horse Racing Assn. (The whole schedule) is in Southern California, which is a tremendous boost. All of our racing will be in front of our fans.”

This year, harness racing had only a six-month meeting at Los Alamitos, whereas quarter horses had a two-month meeting at Bay Meadows and a five-month meeting at Los Alamitos. Harness officials have spent the off-season visiting yearling sales and backstretches across the nation, encouraging new stables to race in California.

Said one harness official, “It’s absolutely a perfect schedule for us. Whatever happens now, we are the architects of our own destiny. We get 10 months of racing and the holidays off. What more do you want?”