LOS ALAMITOS : Blumenfeld and Kuebler Have 7-Victory Night

Leading trainer Paul Blumenfeld, who is seeking his third consecutive championship, is off to a remarkable start this season, winning 15 of 40 races in the first six days of racing.

Blumenfeld is seeking to improve on a 1991 season during which he was the only local trainer to exceed 100 victories. He finished last year’s meeting with 107, 42 more than Robert Gordon. For doubters, the depth of Blumenfeld’s 1992 stable was revealed Friday night when he and driver Rick Kuebler combined to win seven races on a 12-race program.

They won with claimers, conditioned horses and the co-featured $10,000 preferred with the stakes-winning pacer, Heavy Tipper. It was the most victories in an evening by a driver and trainer at Los Alamitos, and gave Blumenfeld a six-race lead over Gordon in the trainer standings.

Kuebler’s evening tied Ross Croghan’s 1989 California record and fell one short of the national driving record of eight victories on a program shared by Herve Fillon, John Campbell, Pat Crowe and Al Cullen.

The seven-victory night, combined with two more last Saturday night, has given Kuebler a 15-8 lead in the driver standings over newcomers Terry Kerr and Steve Warrington, who are tied for second place.

“I don’t keep track on weeks, but that 12 wins in a short (four-day) week is good. One win a day is good,” said Kuebler, who has seven Los Alamitos driving titles, the most recent in the winter-spring meeting of 1989-90. “(Paul’s) barn is red hot. It’s the best start he’s ever had at a meeting.”

Of Kuebler’s seven victories Friday, he was favored only in the 12th race. He won the first three and the last four and finished third and fourth on Blumenfeld horses in the middle of the program.

“Of the nine, I thought all had a chance, and that’s an awful good feeling,” he said. “I want the horses to be competitive, and I’ll take it from there.”

He won the 11th race with Heavy Tipper, who was the top 3-year-old pacer of the 1991 meeting. Heavy Tipper was fourth after three-quarters of a mile but closed in the stretch to beat Mercury, who shared the aged pacer of the meeting title last year with Vance Lobell.

Heavy Tipper, who was timed Friday in 1:56, won 13 of 23 starts in ’91 and more than $130,000. After he left Los Alamitos last July, he won two minor races at Stampede Park in Calgary and was seventh in the $120,000 Nat Christie Memorial Pace on a sloppy track.

“The rain just killed him (that night). It was pouring rain like you’d never seen before,” Blumenfeld said. “He finished second in the first heat. In the second heat, he just couldn’t handle the track.”

Blumenfeld said Heavy Tipper will remain at Los Alamitos for the spring season, but will go to Chicago for the summer.

The weekend of milestones continued Saturday night when 5-year-old pacer Positron came from behind to win the $15,000 Invitational in 1:53, the fourth-fastest pacing mile in Los Alamitos history.

Racing behind a torrid pace set by Positive Spirit and Vance Lobell, Positron moved to the outside in the stretch and passed Vance Lobell in the final sixteenth for his second victory in as many starts this meeting. It was the fastest mile at Los Alamitos since T.K.’s Skipper won the $150,000 American Pacing Classic final on Sept. 29, 1990, in 1:51 2/5, a world record for aged pacing horses over a five-eighths-mile track.

Positron was purchased by Andrew Taylor of Whittier at a Pomona standardbred sale for $500 in 1988. It was the second horse he had purchased that week, after spending $700 for Intermission, a cheap claimer who won 16 races for Taylor before being sold to New York interests in 1990.

Positron has earned $111,285, after competing with the top California-bred pacers in 1989 as a 3-year-old and the invitational class for most of last year at 4. He was also second in the Great Western Pace last summer, the premier California harness race of the year.

“I expect him to get better, but I didn’t know how good he’d be,” said Taylor.

Last July, Positron was shipped to New Jersey with the rest of Lou Pena’s stable and competed on the East Coast, winning one of eight starts. He won a race at the Meadowlands in 1:53 3/5 and finished fourth in another race at the New Jersey track when he was timed in 1:52, beaten by seven lengths by Prince Ebony.

Pena trained the horse at Del Mar until the end of January, but was unable to accompany the horse to Los Alamitos because of a six-month suspension handed down by the New Jersey Racing Commission last November for his alleged involvement in a horse-tampering incident along with fellow California horsemen Eddie Hensley and Steve Hyman, who are two months into suspensions of six months and two years, respectively. Taylor said Pena will be reunited with Positron in May at Sacramento, when the suspension ends, but until then will remain under the care of Denise Maier.

Nighty Night was the leading 2-year-old pacing filly at Los Alamitos last year, winning four of seven starts with three seconds. She was back on the track last Friday evening in a qualifying mile which, according to her trainer-driver Rick Plano, puts her on schedule for a race this weekend. Her main goal this meeting is the California Sires Stakes and California Breeders Stakes, which begin Feb. 21.

“She qualified real good. I’m going to race her Friday in a non-winners of five,” said Plano, who is winless in 21 races after the first six nights. “She’ll get a couple of races under her belt before the stakes. She was the best leaving (last year) and hopefully she’ll be the best coming in.”

Nighty Night won her last three starts of 1991, including a 1:58 mile in the California Breeders Championship on July 19.

Notes

The Twin Trifecta, the newest wager on a full wagering menu, begins tonight in the sixth race. . . . The Seal Beach and Westminister Pacing Series continue tonight and Thursday night. . . . The finals of the California-bred races are next week and will carry purses of $17,500.