LOS ALAMITOS : Trainer Has Health, Victory by Wealth

On a day when trainer Bob Gilbert was released after a week-long stay in the hospital, Wealth, one of the leading older horses in his stable, provided a suitable welcome-home gift--a victory in the Kaweah Bar Handicap.

Gilbert was at home resting during the race and did not learn of the victory until the next morning. Since the doctors had given him permission to move about, Gilbert spent most of Sunday at the barn, checking on Wealth and the other horses that make up one of the biggest quarter horse operations at Los Alamitos.

“I was glad to see he’d won it,” Gilbert said. “I thought he had a shot. I’ve always thought he looks like a million bucks.”

Wealth’s victory in the Kaweah Bar Handicap was the 5-year-old gelding’s first stakes victory, but his sixth overall in 19 starts for owner Zory Kuzyk.

The Kaweah Bar Handicap, which attracted a good field of older horses, was his first race since his seventh-place finish in the Pomona Invitational at Fairplex Park last September. He has been back in training only for the last 2 1/2 months.

Kuzyk’s goal for the summer is the Vessels Maturity. In last year’s race, Wealth finished fourth, beaten by a little more than a length by eventual world champion Refrigerator.

Wealth isn’t the only top horse that Gilbert trains for Kuzyk. He also has Check Her Twice, who won the California Sires Cup and Golden State Futurities last winter and is one of the nation’s leading 3-year-old fillies. She is headed for the Los Alamitos Derby in July.

“She just came back and has been in training for 30 days,” Kuzyk said. “She’ll go in the Los Alamitos Derby, and of course, we intend to win the Sires Cup Derby (on July 25).”

Gilbert is also expecting the return of Rare Form later this year. Rare Form was the top 3-year-old in the nation last year, even though he missed the Champion of Champions last December because of a leg injury. This spring, Rare Form has been bred to a full book of mares in Oklahoma and is expected to rejoin Gilbert in July for a run at the major stakes in the fall.

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Chicks Got Pazazz was the only 3-year-old in last Sunday’s Miss Princess Handicap, but that didn’t stop the filly from surprising a field of older mares.

Chicks Got Pazazz won the 350-yard race by 1 1/4 lengths, running the distance in 17.64 seconds, the fastest of the three 350-yard stakes held over the weekend. Owned by John and Kathie Bobenrieth, Chicks Got Pazazz has run only five times. She ran twice last summer and twice over the winter, winning two races and finishing second twice.

The time off last fall was marked by knee surgery, which did not slow the filly when she returned last winter. Chicks Got Pazazz is a full-sister of Chooglin, who was entered in an 870-yard stake last year.

“(Chooglin) couldn’t run short, but he could run long and she’s shown nothing but early speed,” John Bobenrieth said.

Los Alamitos Notes

Two Arabian stakes are scheduled this weekend. Magna Terra Smoky, the 7-year-old gelding who lost an eye to disease last year, is the 120-pound high weight for today’s Sierra Knights Handicap. The 5-year-old mare Sams Louisa, who won two stakes at Los Alamitos last winter, is the probable favorite in Sunday’s Sierra Queens Handicap. Both races are six furlongs.