HOLLYWOOD PARK: QUARTER HORSES : Mega Dash Near Head of Class

The voters who select quarter horse racing’s yearly champions tend to concentrate on New Mexico 2-year-old races when making their selections.

Races such as the Kansas, Rainbow and All-American futurities at Ruidoso Downs have long played a larger role in determining champions than the major California futurities. But this year might be an exception, at least in the 2-year-old gelding category.

No New Mexico-based 2-year-old gelding won more than one major race, and most have been sent home for the winter. That has opened the door for Mega Dash, the Southland-based gelding.

During the summer at Los Alamitos, he won the Kindergarten and was second in the Dash For Cash futurities. At Hollywood Park, he won the Ed Burke Memorial Futurity and is the leading contender in Saturday’s $100,000 Breeders Juvenile Classic, one of eight stakes on Saturday’s program.

The Breeders Classic offers seven stakes for all ages of quarter horses. The richest race, the $125,000 Breeders Championship Classic, will draw one of the top fields of older horses of the year, including Refrigerator, undefeated in three starts and the early favorite for world champion.

Other stakes include the $35,000 Sprint Classic at 350 yards, $35,000 Distaff Classic for fillies and mares at 400 yards, $30,000 Marathon Classic at 870 yards, $25,000 Sophomore Classic for 3-year-olds at 400 yards and the $15,000 Freshman Classic for 2-year-olds at 350 yards. Saturday’s program also includes the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Assn. Futurity.

Seven of the 10 horses who won 1991 titles won races on Breeders Classic night.

Mega Dash, owned by Paul Reed and trained by Jesse Maldonado, is the only gelding to have won two major stakes this year. The Breeders Juvenile Classic, which does not include a trial race, will be his last start until the Golden State Futurity trials at Los Alamitos in December.

“We didn’t have the race in mind, but since we have so much time between this and the Golden State Futurity, we checked him over and decided we’d run him in it,” Maldonado said.

Maldonado trains only two horses, Mega Dash and Reeds Signature, a double stakes winner this year. Mega Dash, by leading sire First Down Dash, suffered from a virus for most of August and almost didn’t compete in the Ed Burke series.

“We had a lot of trouble keeping him healthy,” he said. “He was sick and finally (veterinarian) Nancy Goodman got him well. He’s been running well, but I didn’t do it myself.

“We came close to turning him out, that’s how sick he was.”

Other contenders for the Juvenile Classic include Four Forty Blast, a finalist in the Heritage Place Futurity last summer, and The Rainbow Ranger, who finished third in the Ed Burke Futurity.

Last year’s classics showcased the stables of trainers Blane Schvaneveldt and Daryn Charlton, and both are strong again this year.

Besides Refrigerator, Schvaneveldt, who won three of the eight classic races last year, will be represented by Dash Ta Fame in the Sophomore and Sign The Check in the Sprint. He also has Bills Byon, who finished second in the Los Alamitos Championship behind Refrigerator in July, in the Championship Classic.

“I don’t think we have as good stock (this year), but we have one in every race, so we’ll try them,” Schvaneveldt said. “(Refrigerator) should run good (at Hollywood Park). He’s run well at Ruidoso on the same kind of surface.”

Refrigerator is sixth on quarter horse racing’s money list with $1,454,622. He has won all three of his races this year, including the Vessels Maturity and Los Alamitos Championship. After Saturday’s race, owner Jim Helzer intends to run him in one more race this year, the $250,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos inDecember.

He will be ridden by Kip Didericksen, who won three races on classics night in last year. Also that night, Charlton and jockey Henry Garcia won two races for the Legacy Ranch--the Championship Classic with Apprehend and the Marathon Classic with Griswold. This year, only Griswold is in training, and he probably will be the favorite in Saturday’s Marathon. His main rival, Speedy Lunch, recently scored a four-length victory in the Pomona 870 Invitational.

Post positions for the classics will be drawn Wednesday morning, and will be most important in the Marathon. The 870-yard race starts shortly before Hollywood Park’s final turn, giving the inside horses an advantage.

Garcia is returning from injuries suffered in an early September spill. After being sidelined for almost two weeks, he returned last week and won two races in six mounts.

Los Alamitos Notes

Thursday’s program includes the trials for the $167,000 Daughters of the Desert and $172,000 Drinkers of the Wind futurities for 3-year-old Arabians. The finals will be run on Oct. 17 and 18 and will be the two richest races run for Arabians. Sunday’s program includes the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Assn. Derby, featuring trial winners Love Tac and Sir Austin Duncan.