LOS ALAMITOS : His Vacation Meant Travel, but Little Rest

When the quarter horse and Arabian season ended last January, most of the jockeys took a year-end vacation.

Arabian jockey Frank Quesada was the exception. Quesada went to the United Arab Emirates to ride Arabians and thoroughbreds for Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who owns one of the world’s most powerful stables.

Quesada spent three months riding in that Persian Gulf nation and returned to California last week. He rode his first Los Alamitos race of the meeting on Friday, winning an allowance on Juan And Only. He rode another winner on Sunday and is tied for second in the Arabian jockey standings, one victory behind Roxane Losey.

Quesada, one of California’s leading Arabian jockeys last year, viewed the overseas journey as the chance of a lifetime. It was quite a contrast for a man whose only trip outside California was a trip to Phoenix to ride a stakes race.

“(Trainer) Richard Conway asked me to go,” he said. “After Los Alamitos (ended), they asked me. I really didn’t get a break. I didn’t know what to expect. I just said I might as well see what it’s like. I had a good time over there.”

Quesada lived in Dubai and found a growing horse racing industry in a small Middle Eastern country. In the last few years, several small tracks have been constructed, enabling prominent horse owners such as Sheikh Mohammed to run their horses at home instead of in Europe or America. Races are held on grass and turf on courses that have varying layouts, a few are flat, while one has an uphill run to the finish. Racing is conducted a few times a week and no wagering is conducted.

“When I first got there (in January), they were racing three days a week and the last two months it was down to once a week,” Quesada said.

Even though he was a world away, Quesada was familiar with some of the horses. Several prominent Middle Eastern buyers have purchased top Arabians and sent them overseas for racing. Horses such as Pacifica, Sueade and NBR Seykret Cache--all stakes winners or stakes-placed at Los Alamitos in the last few years--raced in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year. Sueade, who won more races than he lost, died of a hoof infection earlier this year. The others will probably stay in the Middle East.

“NBR Seykret Cache got better (over there) than he did here,” Quesada said. “He was a bit of a bad actor here, but over there he had no pony and he made no mistakes.”

Quesada wasn’t the only Californian to make the trip. Trainers such as Conway and Garland McAlester raced there as did jockeys Dennis Batteate and Gary Boag. Los Alamitos veterinarian Eric Swinebroad also spent several months there.

Southern California thoroughbred jockeys Gary Stevens and Kent Desormeaux raced against Quesada in a jockey’s competition in March.

“The highlights were getting to ride in the jockey’s challenge and meeting (Sheikh Mohammed),” Quesada said. “I think Richard had a lot to do with (me getting over there). I hope I go back.”

For now, Quesada will concentrate on the Los Alamitos Arabians, which have raced an average of two races a day for the first two weeks of the meeting. The Middle Eastern buyers who have plucked top horses for overseas racing have impacted the number of race-ready older horses in the United States. As a result, Los Alamitos has scores of Arabian maidens on the backstretch.

“That’s all I’ve been getting on in the morning is babies,” Quesada said. “But, I’m glad to be back.”

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TC Tomtyr, who won Saturday’s Sierra Knights Handicap for older Arabians, raced in Abu Dhabi in the spring of 1992.

The 5-year-old horse won the premier race for Arabians in the United Arab Emirates that year and was shipped back to the United States last summer. Because of quarantine restrictions, he didn’t start until mid-summer, but still managed to win two of six starts, including the California Derby at Hollywood Park last fall.

“I think he’s a lot more mature than last year,” Carter said. “He got sidetracked last year when he was in quarantine.”

TC Tomtyr is owned by Tahnoon Bin Zayed, who also owns Minos, an allowance winner at Los Alamitos last winter and a stakes winner in Phoenix in February. Minos is also in Carter’s barn and could form an entry with TC Tomtyr later this year.

On Sunday, Sams Louisa won the Sierra Queens Handicap for Arabian fillies and mares. The 5-year-old won by half a length over Fryga for her third stakes win at Los Alamitos in the last seven months. Last winter, she won the Ben McDonald Distaff and the California Girls Handicaps.

Owned by Hans Glissman and trained by William Irby, Sams Louisa has won six of 17 starts and almost didn’t make it to the races. A few years ago, she suffered a cracked cannon bone, an injury that often ends racing careers.

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The rivalry between the thoroughbred Valiant Pete and the quarter horse Griswold might resume in the Endurance Handicap in early June.

Valiant Pete, a 7-year-old gelding, won Friday’s War Chic Handicap against quarter horses in his first start in almost nine months. In 1991, Valiant Pete and Griswold ran against each other twice. At Santa Anita, Valiant Pete edged Griswold in a $100,000 match race. At Los Alamitos, against a full field of horses, Griswold won the Marathon Handicap, while Valiant Pete finished third. The two haven’t met since December of 1991.