LOS ALAMITOS : Thoroughbreds Will Remain Sidelined for 870-Yard Races

The dispute between the California Horse Racing Board and the Horsemen’s Quarter Horse Racing Assn. that kept thoroughbreds out of 870-yard races at Los Alamitos last weekend will not be resolved in time for this weekend’s races.

Nine thoroughbreds were scratched from Friday’s program, three from Saturday’s and 10 from Sunday’s. The point of contention is a lapsed regulation that allowed thoroughbreds and Appaloosas to compete against quarter horses in 870-yard races.

When the regulation expired on Dec. 31, the HQHRA assumed that mixed-breed racing would be allowed to continue. The CHRB, however, told association officials late Friday that since a new regulation had not been issued, the thoroughbreds were ineligible.

The issue of mixed-breed racing has coincided with the emergence of the Appaloosa Wing It in 870-yard races.

Wing It began racing against quarter horses last August at Hollywood Park and has won three of six starts, including two stakes races. His owner, Bill Jones, and trainer, Bob Gilbert, hoped to start the 5-year-old gelding against quarter horses in Friday’s $100,000 Marathon Invitational Handicap.

The HQHRA, however, wasn’t going to let him run because the American Quarter Horse Assn., the breed registry, doesn’t recognize quarter horses racing against Appaloosas. Consequently, Griswold’s second-place finish to Wing It in the Bull Rastus Handicap last month doesn’t count toward Griswold’s lifetime earnings or in the stallion records of his sire, Merridoc.

On Friday, Los Alamitos stewards received a directive from the CHRB ordering the thoroughbreds out of the races. Complaints were also made Friday by Appaloosa interests and by the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Assn. The PCQHRA was concerned about the legality of a race Sunday that had a majority of thoroughbreds instead of quarter horses.

“I’m not surprised (at what the board did) because you can’t let one breed participate and not the other,” said Debbie Schauf, general manager of the PCQHRA, which represents quarter horsemen at Los Alamitos. “PCQHRA has not opposed having thoroughbreds or Appaloosas, but the law allows certain controls--like the number of thoroughbreds--and we have supported that.”

HQHRA officials expect mixed-breed racing to resume by late April.

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The Marathon is the richest race of its kind. It was not run in 1992, but Griswold, the 1991 winner, is the leading contender for champion distance horse of 1992, which will be awarded by the American Quarter Horse Assn. on Jan. 24. He won three stakes races last year and holds the world record for the Marathon 43.99 seconds--set in February of 1991.

Trained by Daryn Charlton, Griswold is owned by the Legacy Ranch of Chino.

The Marathon will not be the only major race this weekend. The $75,000 HQHRA Handicap on Saturday will be the first Grade I event for older horses, and might feature two brothers--the 4-year-old Holland Ease and 3-year-old Four Forty Blast.

Although it is rare for 3-year-olds to face older horses this early in the year, there is a precedent in the HQHRA Handicap. In 1979, Moon Lark won the race, beating three champions. Four Forty Blast, who is owned by James Streelman and Denny Boer, won a 440-yard race last August at Ruidoso, N.M., and is coming off a second to Check Her Twice in the Golden State Futurity late last month after a poor start.

“No doubt in my mind he would have run better, but he got left pretty bad,” trainer Carlos Lopez said. “He may not have won it, but he would have been close.”

Holland Ease, who hasn’t started since winning the Golden State Derby in early December, has raced well throughout his career.

Shawnes Diamond, the 123-pound highweight, won the Go Man Go Handicap at Hollywood Park, but ran poorly in the Champion of Champions trials in early December.

Two 4-year-olds with strong credentials who are expected to start include Sound Dash, second in the Champion of Champions and third in the Las Damas Handicap, and Ed Grimley, third in the Champion of Champions.

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After having his best year in 1992, jockey Jerry Yoakum is off to a strong start.

Yoakum has a four-victory lead over Henry Garcia in the jockey standings, riding two winners each night last week.

Yoakum, 21, rode in Texas last spring, in New Mexico last summer and came to California in the fall. At Ruidoso, he enjoyed his best meeting, riding Deceptively and Femmes Frolic to four stakes victories. Deceptively, a 2-year-old filly last year, won all four of her starts, including the Kansas and Rainbow futurities. A leg injury kept her out of the All American Futurity, but she still is expected to be voted 2-year-old champion of 1992.

Femmes Frolic is a leading contender for top 3-year-old gelding because of his victories in the World’s Championship Classic and the All American Derby. Both Femmes Frolic and Deceptively are owned by Roger Knight Jr. and trained by Bruce Bell.

This spring, Yoakum will return to Texas and work with Bell on Knight’s young horses and come back to California for the summer meeting, which will begin in late April. He will travel back to the Midwest to ride Deceptively and Femmes Frolic, who will race in New Mexico and Oklahoma during the summer before their California campaigns next fall.

“I’ll be back,” Yoakum said. “I’m having too good of a meet not to come back. When I came out here (last fall), my year was going super. Every time I turned around, I was winning another race. When you win big races, you usually get to ride good horses, so that’s helped a lot.”

Yoakum has already made one trip back to Knight’s farm in Madisonville, Tex., where he was impressed by a 2-year-old sister of Femmes Frolic and Deceptively. The filly was repurchased by Knight at a yearling sale in New Mexico for $200,000.

“I’ll know more about her when I get home, but she carries herself well and is bigger than Femmes Frolic and Deceptively,” Yoakum said.

Los Alamitos Notes

Los Alamitos stewards have suspended jockey Joy Scott for 30 days for an unsatisfactory ride in mid-December. Scott was aboard Doomichael on Dec. 11 when the gelding finished fourth in a $1,600 claiming race. The suspension runs through Feb. 9. Scott rides both thoroughbreds and quarter horses. . . . Two Arabian stakes are tentatively scheduled for Saturday’s program. . . . Thursday’s program has a Twin Trifecta carryover of $23,467 and a Pick Six carryover of $8,163. Both pools must be paid by Saturday, closing night of the meeting. The winter-spring harness meeting will begin on Jan. 22.