LOS ALAMITOS : Victory Caps Lewis’ Comeback

It was probably fitting that owner John Guiltinan and trainer Russell Harris weren’t at Los Alamitos Saturday to witness Ms Lady Casanova’s upset victory in the Ed Burke Memorial Futurity. The spotlight was clearly on jockey Jim Lewis and his wife, Kelly.

Lewis spent six weeks in August and early September on the sidelines because of a shoulder injury suffered in an early August spill. When he returned in mid-September, he slowly began regaining mounts, including a third-place finish with Ms Lady Casanova in the Ed Burke trials behind leading qualifiers Follow The Sign and Le Ritz.

Even though the filly had won only one of four starts, Lewis began thinking she had a chance to improve in the finals. On Saturday, the bettors couldn’t have disagreed more, choosing to remember her eighth-place finish in a recent $8,000 claiming race rather than her third in the trials.

Ms Lady Casanova was sent off at 50-1, the second-longest shot in the field. When she jumped out to an early lead and held off a fast-closing, and favored, Twelfth Secret, she triggered a payoff of $104.80, the highest win mutuel in a Los Alamitos stakes race this year.

“The little $8,000 horse ran pretty good,” Lewis said to his wife after he brought the horse back to be unsaddled. Kelly Lewis serves as assistant trainer for Harris, who is one of the few quarter horse trainers operating divisions across the country. Harris also has horses based in Texas and this year raced in New Mexico and Oklahoma. He was in Texas Saturday.

The Ed Burke was Lewis’ biggest victory since last year, when he won the Dash For Cash Derby aboard Sables Secret. It also marked his comeback from the injury.

“I thought she’d be pretty tough,” he said. “(Jockey) Henry’s (Garcia) horse (Follow The Sign), if he got out, I thought he’d be tough to outrun.”

But Follow The Sign broke through the gates as the field was loaded and ran sixth. Lewis broke on the lead and won by a nose, running 350 yards in 17.62 seconds.

The Ed Burke was the richest futurity run in California this year but didn’t draw the toughest field. Jumping Tac Flash, Daily Triple, A Classic Dash and Totally Illegal, who among them accounted for the first five futurities run at Los Alamitos this year, weren’t entered in the Ed Burke trials.

Lewis missed several mounts while he was gone on both overnight horses and stakes, including Rapid Champ, who he most likely would have ridden when the gelding won the recent Gold Rush Derby. After races like the Ed Burke, however, those days can be quickly forgotten.

“(This) kind of makes up for being out,” he said.

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A streak of bad luck has ended for Down With Debt.

Over the last year, Down With Debt has missed races because of a leg injury and more recently suffered a bad start in a stakes race in which she was heavily favored. For a while Friday, it appeared she would be without her regular rider, G.R. Carter, in the California Derby.

Carter was slightly injured in a fifth-race spill when his mount, Say Can Yuse, broke down at the finish line of a 4 1/2-furlong thoroughbred race. Carter and the 3-year-old gelding were rallying at the time of the accident and the shift of momentum threw Carter off the gelding almost immediately. After he hit the ground, he was struck by one of the trailing horses.

Carter stayed on the ground for a few minutes and eventually walked back to the jockey’s room. He skipped a mount on a claiming horse, but was ready by the 10th race, the $67,000 California Derby.

Down With Debt, who suffered a cracked cannon bone at 2 and who lost all chance in the Dash For Cash Derby when she was bumped at the start, won the California Derby by one length, handing Four Forty Blast only his second loss of the year.

Carter said he was a little dizzy after the fall and that his knee wasn’t 100%, but he didn’t hesitate to ride. Over the last six weeks, he’s been involved in three spills and has suffered cracked ribs and a broken right hand. Through all that, he’s still the third-leading jockey at the meeting.

Four Forty Blast had no apparent excuse, said trainer Carlos Lopez. He will be given a brief rest, but will still be pointed to the $100,000-added Breeders Championship Classic on Nov. 13, one of eight stakes races scheduled for that evening. Refrigerator, winner of the Los Alamitos Championship last month and the leading contender for world champion, is also pointing for that race. The two have never met.

Los Alamitos Notes

Unchained Melody, a 3-year-old Arabian filly, won a trial for the Daughters Of The Desert Futurity by 14 1/2 lengths, setting an Arabian track record of 1:17 for six furlongs. She is undefeated in six starts and is a full-sister to Victorias Secret. The finals of the Drinkers Of The Wind Futurity for colts and geldings and the Daughters Of the Desert Futurity for fillies are Oct. 22 and 23, respectively.

Two $20,000 stakes for quarter horses were also held during the last week--the Paul Ford Memorial handicap for fillies and mares and the Spencer Childers Handicap for California-bred fillies and mares. Jockey Carlos Bautista guided the 3-year-old thoroughbred Bright Eyed Lady to a three-quarter-length victory in the Paul Ford. Owned by Patricia Visscher and trained by H.J. Visscher, Bright Eyed Lady has thrived at Los Alamitos since finishing eighth in a maiden race at Hollywood Park this summer.

In the Spencer Childers Handicap on Friday, Chicks Got Pazazz, a 3-year-old filly by Chicks Beduino, won the 400-yard race by 1 1/4 lengths. It was her third stakes victory win of the year, having already won the Miss Princess and Bobby Doyle handicaps. She is owned by John and Kathie Bobenrieth of Costa Mesa.