LOS ALAMITOS : Salerno Proves Frisky Despite Long, Hot Trip From the North

When Salerno arrived at Los Alamitos last week after a long, hot van ride from Sacramento, her trainer, Steve Warrington, was more than a little surprised that the filly still had enough energy to play around the barn.

The ride was supposed to take 10 hours, but the van broke down, forcing a five-hour delay in almost 100-degree temperatures.

However, when Salerno stepped on the track Friday night for her first start at Los Alamitos in an invitational pace against older, more experienced mares, Warrington’s confidence soared. Facing the toughest mares in California, she scored her first invitational victory in 1:56 1/5, a personal best.

“Of the ones we shipped down, she was the only one that came off (the van) bucking and playing,” Warrington said. “That says a lot for the filly to ship like that and not have it bother her.”

Friday’s invitational pace was her 23rd start. She raced in New Zealand last year and the first two months of 1992 before Brian Meale brought her to the United States. Salerno was stabled at Los Alamitos during the spring meeting but didn’t start. Her first California race resulted in a second place at Sacramento on May 8. By May 22, her next start, she had been bought by former state assemblyman Frank Vincencia of Seal Beach, who turned her over to Warrington.

She then won two legs of a series in May before finishing second in the $15,000 final on June 5 behind Rockhopper.

“When she won that second (leg on May 29), she had a real burst of speed with a fast final quarter,” Vincencia said. “I thought, ‘Geez, I think she’s going to be pretty good.’ ”

Salerno is the only horse Vincencia owns. He had an interest in a few thoroughbred broodmares in the late 1960s and saw a foal make it to the track, win a race and then be claimed. When he became an assemblyman in 1974, he sold his interest in racehorses. By the late 1980s, after he had retired, he became interested in standardbreds because they are less expensive than thoroughbreds and race more frequently, usually every week.

“When I bought her, I thought she’d be good,” Vincencia said. “Steve said she’s still kind of green for her age. I think she’ll get better and could pace faster.

“He wasn’t sure how she’d react (to the shipping). I saw her Friday morning, and she looked good. She worked well before the race. I told him: ‘They all shipped down here, so they all had the same problem.’ I’m fortunate that my first horse turned out to be as good as she is.”

Salerno started five times in July and August at Sacramento, winning once and finishing third twice. On July 24, she set fast fractions for the first three-quarters of the race--28 1/5, 56 3/5, 1:24 4/5--but finished fourth behind Uppity Broad, who set a track record of 1:54 3/5 for 3-year-old fillies.

Her ascension into the invitational class in 23 starts is a rare achievement. Twice as many starts usually are required because the 2- and 3-year-old seasons are usually spent racing against horses of the same age. Salerno didn’t start until she was 4 and won only once in 13 starts before coming to the United States.

“She’s still green and doesn’t know how to race,” Warrington said. “To go to the invitationals that quickly is very unusual and very hard on them. You have to be careful bringing a filly (up against) the toughest mares on the track. You have to take a week off now and then.”

Warrington, who trains 10 horses, plans to start Salerno in two series later in this meeting. This is the Marylander’s first year of racing in California; he was second behind Ross Croghan in the drivers’ standings at the Los Alamitos spring meeting and the Sacramento summer meeting.

Nick Sodano came to California from New Jersey in 1990 with TK’s Skipper and won the American Pacing Classic in world-record time for 5-year-olds and up--1:51 2/5. This summer, Sodano has returned with TK’s Skipper, now 7, and also brought a 21-horse stable.

Sodano sent TK’s Skipper and One Bad Boy out for a 1-2 finish in Saturday’s invitational handicap, and plans to enter both horses in the American Pacing Classic in September. That race is also on the schedule of Odds Against, a 5-year-old who has earned more than $300,000 this year and was second Saturday behind Artsplace in the U.S. Pacing Championship at Yonkers Raceway in New York. Rick Kuebler, who drove TK’s Skipper, also has an American Pacing Classic contender in Heavy Tipper, who will race this Saturday in eliminations of the American-National Stakes.

TK’s Skipper hasn’t been the same since 1990, when he was second in the national Aged Pacing Horse balloting. He was off for 14 months because of a hoof ailment, and won his only start last year. This year, he has won three of 25 races.

Sodano gave TK’s Skipper a qualifying race on Aug. 8 at the Meadowlands, which he won by 2 1/2 lengths. He hadn’t raced since finishing seventh in an Open Handicap at the Meadowlands on July 10, where despite his placing, he was timed in 1:52 2/5.

TK’s Skipper’s stablemate, One Bad Boy, a 4-year-old colt, has won five of 22 starts this year and had a more difficult race Saturday, racing away from the rail for the entire mile and still managing to finish second with Warrington in the bike. The time of 1:54 3/5 was TK’s Skipper fastest winning mark of the year. Both horses are owned by Jerry Dubiner of New York.

“I told these guys that One Bad Boy is better on paper, but TK is a better horse,” said Sodano, who opted for Los Alamitos this fall over Garden State Park near Philadelphia. “He likes this surface, this weather. He’s a class act. TK gives a much bigger effort, and that usually wins races.”

Sodano acknowledges that TK’s Skipper is not the same horse as in 1990, and if he had it to do over again, he would not have shipped him to Lexington, Ky., four days after the 1990 American Pacing Classic, for a $63,000 stakes race in which he finished fifth. His hoof problem required surgery, which was performed shortly thereafter in Pennsylvania.

“Things were going good,” Sodano said. “Sometimes you push too hard. I took the blame at the time.”

Sodano had an impressive opening weekend at Los Alamitos. He started 13 horses, won two races and was in the money with nine. Aside from the performances of TK’s Skipper and One Bad Boy, Sodano also had a second with Table Card in an invitational trot and with Ha Cha Cha in an invitational pace for fillies.