LOS ALAMITOS : Koriner Has a Lot at Stake Again

Trainer Brian Koriner has had reason to smile lately.

Through Sunday, Koriner was third in the trainers’ standings in quarter horse racing at Los Alamitos, behind Blane Schvaneveldt and Frank Monteleone. And Koriner has won two major stakes as well--El Primero Del Ano Derby in late May with Firstdown Touchdown and the Kindergarten Futurity last Friday with Daily Triple.

This week, Koriner has starters in two more major races--Macs Leinster Band in the Vessels Maturity and Firstdown Touchdown in the Los Alamitos Derby.

Koriner had his best year in 1992, finishing among the leading trainers at Los Alamitos and Hollywood Park. There were frequent frustrations, however, in stakes races. Speedy Lunch, a gelding who runs 870 yards, won the Pomona Invitational Handicap for a record third time last year, but couldn’t wrest the divisional title away from Griswold.

Firstdown Touchdown, owned by Gordon Shultz, ran in four major races for 2-year-olds last year, but managed only a second in the California Futurity at Hollywood Park last October. The gelding also ran two impressive races in the trials for the California Sires Cup and Golden State Futurities last fall at Los Alamitos, but failed to qualify for either.

Even so, Koriner, 26, had an impressive year. He finished with four stakes victories and was among the nation’s 30 leading trainers in money and races won. He also had Firstdown Touchdown to look forward to in 1993.

The two stakes triumphs in the first two months of the meeting have boosted Koriner’s confidence.

“I thought I’d have a good year, but who figured I’d win two (graded stakes) to start a meet?” he said. “I have a well-balanced barn. Having the Shultz horses really helps.”

Koriner grew up in Diamond Bar thinking about baseball as a career. But when nothing came of several tryouts, Koriner landed a job on the starting-gate crew at the track. He also worked as an assistant trainer at Los Alamitos before starting his own operation in the late 1980s.

Koriner trains Daily Triple for Legacy Ranch, which also owns Griswold. Daily Triple lost his first three starts, including a fifth-place finish in a minor futurity in Utah last month and a fourth in the Kindergarten trials.

Daily Triple, who had the eighth-fastest qualifying time, was lucky to finish the mid-June trial. Midway through the race, he partially pulled off one of his front shoes and was stepping on it for the rest of the race.

“(Jockey) Eddie Garcia thought he’d broken down and said he almost jumped off,” Koriner said.

Garcia stayed on and Daily Triple qualified, but Garcia chose to ride Koriner’s other Kindergarten starter, Oh Oh The Signature. G.R. Carter, who was supposed to ride Pies Prince until that horse was scratched, picked up the mount on Daily Triple.

Daily Triple, Koriner’s first Kindergarten winner, edged Double Density. Oh Oh The Signature finished third.

Koriner also started Begum Beduino, a full sister of Firstdown Touchdown, in the $100,000 Miss Kindergarten Futurity for 2-year-old fillies Saturday, but the filly finished sixth, behind Jumping Tac Flash, the leading 2-year-old in California this summer. Jumping Tac Flash, owned by John Andreini and trained by Schvaneveldt, has won four of five starts, including the California Sires Cup Futurity in late May.

If Begum Beduino is slow to mature, she will be following in the footsteps of her older brother, Firstdown Touchdown, who earned $46,842 in 1992, winning two of 12 starts. This year, he has earned a similar amount with three victories in three starts. He got his first in trials for El Primero Del Ano Derby in mid-May, but since Four Forty Blast also won a trial, Firstdown Touchdown was overlooked in the final.

In the May 27 final, Four Forty Blast broke through the gate before the start, while Firstdown Touchdown waited patiently. Four Forty Blast took the early lead, but faltered in the final yards and lost to Firstdown Touchdown.

Both horses, as well as Avison, won trials for the Los Alamitos Derby on June 18. Koriner concedes, however, that Four Forty Blast deserves to be favored on Friday.

“I worried about Four Forty Blast last time,” Koriner said. “(Firstdown Touchdown is) training good, but if everything goes right for Four Forty Blast, he looks untouchable.”