LOS ALAMITOS : Trainer Has Had Longest Winter Trying to Bring Mad Milton Back

That graying hair at John Walker’s temples could be blamed on Mad Milton, a 4-year-old trotter who recently returned to the races after a tumultuous winter.

The gelding finished sixth in last Wednesday’s Invitational Trot, his 1992 debut. It was his first start since he was disqualified from a second-place finish at Maywood Park near Chicago last September. In the six months between starts, Walker spent considerable time at Mad Milton’s side, guiding him back to the races after an illness almost cost the gelding his life late last year.

Last fall, Milton and Walker were based at a farm near Lexington, Ky., waiting for a stakes race at the Red Mile. Mad Milton’s daily routine was nothing out of the ordinary for a racehorse on a farm--basically a morning training session followed by an afternoon spent in a paddock.

Walker was making a routine check of the paddock one afternoon when he found Mad Milton standing quietly with his head down.

Two lung abscesses had burst and the gelding required immediate, care.

“It was three long days and nights,” Walker said. “He may have had (the lung abscesses) when he was a yearling. He always had a cough. It was amazing it hadn’t popped before.”

The gelding was slowly nursed back to health and by November had returned to California, then was back in training in December.

He qualified twice in early March, finishing second to Magic Moose on March 4 and the 3-year-old pacing star Skytel on March 11. In last Wednesday’s Invitational Trot, he made a four-wide move in the final turn, but went off-stride in the stretch and faded to sixth, behind Magic Moose, who won his third race in four 1992 starts.

“I had all kinds of road trouble,” said Keith Clark, who drove Mad Milton for the first time. “I was three-wide on the backstretch when (driver D.R. Ackerman and Primrose Lane) made a break. (Mad Milton) got to trotting rough and I couldn’t get him straightened out.”

Mad Milton was the top trotter of the 1991 Los Alamitos season, beating older horses last July as well as dominating the 3-year-old colt and gelding division through the spring and summer. He set a track record--1:57 4/5--for 3-year-olds last July 24 with a victory in the invitational trot, and won 10 of 13 starts at Los Alamitos, including a seven-race winning streak from mid-May to mid-July.

At the conclusion of the Los Alamitos meeting, Walker shipped the gelding to the Midwest. In August and September, he raced five times, earning third- and fourth-place finishes in divisions of the World Trotting Derby in Illinois, competing against Hambletonian winner Giant Victory and a bevy of major stakes trotters.

Walker might have had a warning sign about Mad Milton’s condition after the second division of the World Trotting Derby, which was held at the Du Quoin State Fair in Du Quoin, Ill., in 100-degree weather. Mad Milton finished third, behind Somatic and Giant Victory, trotting the mile in 1:53 2/5. But according to Walker, the gelding spit up mucus and blood after the race.

Ten days later, he finished second in a handicap trot at Maywood Park but was disqualified and bumped back to seventh for interference. Shortly thereafter, he was shipped to Kentucky.

Before last week’s race, Walker was optimistic, and still is, about the gelding’s future.

“He’s been training better than ever,” Walker said. “He’s more solid than he’s ever been. Much lighter, faster, quicker, everything’s been super.

Mad Milton has been nominated for several of the sport’s biggest races for older trotters, an indication of how far Walker feels the gelding can progress.

“It’s been the longest six months off, from almost being dead to being back here,” he said.

Clark’s weekend was highlighted by an impressive performance of the 3-year-old pacer As Promised on Saturday night.

The colt, by Abercrombie, was racing for the first time at Los Alamitos after having won nine of 10 starts last year on the Edmonton-Calgary circuit. Clark is pointing As Promised for the $250,000 Shelly Goudreau Memorial Pace on April 25, the closing night of the winter-spring meeting.

As Promised was clocked in 1:56, a career best, beating a field of conditioned older horses.

“It was a tiring track, but he still got home well,” said Clark, the leading driver-trainer last year on the Edmonton-Calgary circuit. “Those were some pretty good aged horses. He’s gotten a little bit stronger this year.”

Clark said that the Goudreau was one of the main reasons he had transferred his barn to Los Alamitos this spring. Despite the move, he may still have to contend with the horse that last year kept As Promised’s record from perfection--True Tyrant, who is also in California preparing for the Goudreau.

“I couldn’t beat (True Tyrant) last year, but I only raced him once,” he said. “They’re pretty well matched and they’ll be lot of competition in the finals.”

Skytel, who won $153,864 competing on the Grand Circuit last year, won Saturday’s 12th race against older horses in 1:56 2/5 and is also being pointed toward the Goudreau. He is owned by Richard Staley of Los Angeles, trained by Doug Ackerman and was driven by Doug’s son, D.R.

“That was a nice little race,” said D.R. “Hopefully I left a little room for improvement.”

The Ackerman stable was also represented last week by Vacationing, a gelding by On The Road Again, who was third in the Anaheim Series final and is also eligible for the Goudreau.

Last Thursday, Just A Mene, a New Zealand-bred colt by Vance Hanover, was second against older horses. He starts again in Thursday’s fifth race, where he’ll race Goudreau nominees Five Aces and PA War Zone.

Los Alamitos Notes

So far, 21 horses are nominated for the Goudreau, and officials say more may be in the mail. The list includes Prince Brian, Findango, Skytel, Vacationing, Just A Mene, As Promised, So, Hurricane Rain, You Better You Bet, Shiney Ket, PA War Zone, Humstinger, Bilateral, Dal Reo Scruffy, True Tyrant, Falcon Dakota, Five Aces, Three Times Seven, Bright As Day, Clemente and Jovial Killean. The most notable exception is All That Rythm, who won a California Sires Stakes two weeks ago and beat older horses on Saturday. Trainer Jim Todd has elected to keep him in the California Sires program through this meeting.

Trainer Paul Blumenfeld and driver Rick Kuebler swept the invitation classes last weekend with Mary Franco in the Friday race for fillies and with Heavy Tipper in Saturday’s open race. . . . There is a carry-over of $15,911.70 for tonight’s twin-trifecta. . . . Tonight’s feature race is the 10th, a $14,360 California Breeders Stakes for 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings. Bonefide Boy and X Pert Jim, both stakes winners this meeting, are among the 12 entered. Thursday’s feature is the $12,750 California Breeders Stakes for 3-year-old trotting fillies.