LOS ALAMITOS : Stand By Finds Her Old Form, Sets a Record

Stand By had already won twice in April when she stepped onto the track Friday for the fillies’ and mares’ invitational.

The 7-year-old mare, sidelined for several months of racing last year, had finally returned to the form that led to her title as the top pacing mare of the 1992 winter-spring meeting. Still, few could have anticipated the race she turned in. Taking the lead shortly after the start, Stand By increased her winning streak to three, winning in 1:53 4/5--the fastest pacing mile by a filly or mare in Los Alamitos history and a full second faster than her previous best.

Her timing couldn’t have been better. It was co-owner Loretta Staats’ birthday and on the same night, Stand By’s regular driver, Steve Warrington, won his 2,500th race.

“It took her a little while to get there, but this is the best (race) of hers so far,” said Robert Staats of Los Angeles, who co-owns the mare.

Stand By has won 10 of 25 starts since arriving in California in early 1992 from New Zealand. Last year, she won seven of 15, including five of her first six. She was so impressive that by mid-spring, she occasionally had to race against males. Then, after finishing seventh in a qualifying leg of the Great Western Pace last June at Sacramento, she was sidelined for two months. A comeback last August failed.

This year, she started slowly, making her first start in early February. She lost her first seven races, but won on April 2, and her time of 1:54 3/5 shaved one-fifth of a second off the track record for older pacing mares shared by her and Cool Charl Girl.

In Friday’s race, she beat Brilliant Colors, who had led the handicap mares division for most of the year.

“I was high on her last year,” trainer Robert Gordon said. “I thought she was the greatest mare I’d ever had, and now I know she is. She started out fair (this year) and she’s come around. (Friday) was just the cap.”

Gordon intends to split his stable at the end of the meeting, sending some stock to Sacramento and some to Chicago. Stand By is Chicago-bound, where she will pace against tougher horses, but will also race for almost double the purse money offered at Los Alamitos.

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Warrington scored his 2,500th driving victory in last Friday’s fourth race with Flit, a 6-year-old mare he also trains and co-owns with Anthony Clark.

That was a bit of an oddity for Warrington, who has become the No. 1 driver at the meeting by driving other trainers’ horses. With only four days of racing remaining, he has won 88 races, 29 more than second-place Rick Plano.

“That was a good way (to reach 2,500) because we own part of her with friends from Virginia,” Warrington said. “They’re the best owners I’ve got.”

Warrington won four races Friday night, three of them for other trainers. His top drives this year have been with horses such as Stand By, David’s Legend, Life’s A Gamble and Kurahaupo Pride, none of whom he trains.

David’s Legend, the leading trotter this spring, is trained by Jimmy Perez. Life’s A Gamble and Kurahaupo Pride are conditioned by Ross Croghan and Rudy Sialana, respectively.

“I really wouldn’t have had much success without Perez, Gordon and Sialana,” Warrington said.

Warrington had decided to drive in Sacramento this summer instead of returning to his Maryland home. He does, however, intend to go back to Maryland between meetings to check the horses he has based there and to take a vacation. His expectations for Sacramento do not include a driving title.

“A lot of horses I’m driving are leaving (at the end of the meeting),” he said. “I think Rick (Plano, the meeting’s leading trainer) will have a powerful stable, so he’ll be tough.”

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Plano has an eight-race lead over Gordon in the trainers’ standings, but might have saved the best for last.

On Thursday, he will drive Hays My Game in the $15,000 California Sires Stakes for 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings. Friday, Plano will start the 3-year-old pacer Keepyourpantson in the $15,000 stakes for pacing colts and then leave for the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., to watch The Starting Gate in the $350,000 Berry’s Creek Final on Saturday.

The Starting Gate, co-owned by Plano’s wife, Maryann, and Ken Brandyberry, was the top 2-year-old pacer in California last year, but has raced exclusively in the East this year. On Saturday, in an elimination for the Berry’s Creek, he finished third, beaten by slightly more than three lengths by Riyadh.

The 12-horse final field of 3-year-old pacers is one of the toughest assembled this year and The Starting Gate had the misfortune of drawing the No. 10 post position, which means he will start on the far outside. The California-bred is listed at 30-1 on the morning line.

Despite the tough draw, Plano had been ecstatic about The Starting Gate’s progress this year and has nominated him for some of the nation’s top races, including the North American Cup, Meadowlands Pace and the Jug Preview.

“I’ve been overwhelmed,” he said. “I’m glad he’s competitive. He’s shown well for a California horse. We’ll know more on Saturday.”

Keepyourpantson has been sidelined for most of the spring meeting because of illness. Last fall, after Plano pulled The Starting Gate off the track, Keepyourpantson carried the stable’s colors to victories in several top 2-year-old stakes. This year, set back by illness, he has won three of four starts, none of which were as impressive as Friday’s final qualifying leg for the sires stakes.

Keepyourpantson, who like The Starting Gate was sired by Denali, was fourth at the top of the stretch and didn’t appear to have time to win. Plano, however, moved Keepyourpantson around horses, hit him three times with the whip in the last 150 yards and won by two lengths. The time of 1:56 1/5 was his fastest of the year.

“I don’t know if the other horses are good enough (to keep up with Keepyourpantson) if he stays like he is,” Plano said. “He’s got the capability.”