LOS ALAMITOS : Wait Pays Off for Pages Calyx

When Pages Calyx won the first of three California Sires Cup Derby trials on Sunday night, the easy part was over for the 3-year-old filly’s connections.

The hard part was waiting to see if her time--400 yards in 20 seconds--would be fast enough to qualify for one of the 10 spots in the July 25 final. Owners Scott Lindgren and Bud Shields, trainer Bret Layne and jockey John Creager had only Pages Calyx in the trials and had to wait through two more races to see if she would return in the $75,000 final.

After Check Her Twice won the second division in 19.69 seconds, Pages Calyx dropped to sixth on the qualifying list because four other horses broke 20 seconds. After Easily A Secret won the third division in 19.78 seconds, Pages Calyx’s connections breathed a sigh of relief. Only three horses from the third division had run faster than 20 seconds, meaning Pages Calyx was left with the ninth-fastest time.

On the surface, qualifying ninth for the California Sires Cup Derby doesn’t send waves of confidence through an owner, but Pages Calyx has become an overachiever. Since the meet began in May, she has started five times with two victories and three seconds.

Except for Sunday’s trial, all of her starts have come in claiming races. She won an $8,000 claiming race on June 13 and ran second, beaten by a nose, in a $20,000 claiming race two weeks later. That race impressed Layne and the owners enough to pay the $750 fee to enter the trials, her first start at 400 yards.

“She’s matured each time she’s raced, even though she’s run a lot of seconds,” said Lindgren, a firefighter in the northern California city of Fairfield. “Last year, she was in the (California Sires Cup Futurity) trials, but she didn’t do too well. She was a late foal and not as mature.”

Layne was convinced after the $20,000 claiming race that Pages Calyx was good enough for the trials. Normally, he might have chosen an allowance race as a prep, but allowance races for 3-year-olds are infrequent. Consequently, he risked losing her in a claiming race.

“We had to let the horse tell us if she was good enough to be in there,” he said. “You like to be in this position of qualifying for the derby, but in the same breath we’ve run for $5,000 recently. We’d like to win, but we’d be happy to be in the next wave behind the Grade I horses.

“She likes this distance, and with the extra 50 yards (from the claiming races), we hope that will be good enough to get on the board.”

The Grade I horses that Layne refers to are Check Her Twice and Easily A Secret, the two fastest qualifiers, both easy trial winners. Check Her Twice won the Golden State and California Sires Cup futurities last winter at Los Alamitos, but was a disappointing 10th in the Los Alamitos Derby on July 3. Trainer Bob Gilbert dismissed it as a bad race.

Easily A Secret, who is trained by Bruce Hawkinson, has never won a stakes race, but has qualified for several major races.

Pages Calyx has another trend working in her favor. So far this season, Los Alamitos has run seven major races requiring trials. Of those, the top qualifier has won only two--the La Primera Del Ano Derby (Sables Secret) and the Los Alamitos Derby (Four Forty Blast). On other occasions, the third-fastest qualifier has won twice, the fourth-fastest qualifier has won twice and the eighth-fastest qualifier--Daily Triple in the Kindergarten Futurity--has won.

*

The much-anticipated rematch between Griswold and Valiant Pete in Friday’s Table Tennis Handicap was effectively canceled one jump away from the starting gate when Valiant Pete broke poorly.

Griswold and Valiant Pete split their first two meetings in 1991 and avoided each other in the first two 870-yard stakes of the meeting.

Valiant Pete won a $100,000 match race at Santa Anita in April of 1991, and Griswold returned the favor in the $100,000 Marathon Handicap at Los Alamitos that same year.

The 870-yard Table Tennis Handicap was supposed to be the rubber match, but Valiant Pete, who started from the rail, broke last in the seven-horse field and was never a factor. The race wasn’t as pretty as some of Griswold’s previous victories. He took the lead on the backstretch and led by 2 1/2 lengths on the turn, but won by only a head over Rebs Sign Off.

“I saw them coming (from behind), and I went to work,” said jockey Henry Garcia. “Griswold ran good and he gave me what he had. He was strong the whole way. I thought he finished strong. Maybe the other ones are getting better.”

Last May, Bruce Pilkenton rode Valiant Pete to victory over quarter horses in the 870-yard War Chic Handicap at Los Alamitos. “When we left, he pulled a shoe and got run over,” he said. “He was off-stride and then (Rebs Sign Off) hit him and it was over.”

The $20,000 Table Tennis Handicap was Griswold’s 11th stakes victory at Los Alamitos, tying him with Chingaderos, who raced until 1991. Griswold was named the distance horse of the year in 1991 and 1992 and is undefeated in three starts this year.

Los Alamitos Notes

TC Tomtyr, who won the Markel California Classic and the Sierra Knights Handicap for Arabians earlier this year, finished fifth in the Dubai Cup at Kempton Park in England on Saturday. He was the highest-placed American-bred in the 17-horse field. Five stakes for Arabians were canceled last week because of insufficient entries. . . . Thursday’s handle of $613,913 was the lowest of the 43-night meeting at Los Alamitos.

Three jockeys will be suspended for all or part of the coming week because of recent disqualifications for interference. Mike Burgess is suspended through July 15; Joe Meier, through July 18; and Mike Short, through July 22. Short was disqualified from third to seventh in Friday’s second race after his mount, Ala F Admiral, lugged out, causing Woodstocks Request, who was directly on his outside, to alter stride. Woodstocks Request was knocked off balance and broke down at the finish line. He had to be destroyed. On Sunday, the 3-year-old gelding Cast N Anvil was put down because of injuries suffered in the fourth race.