LOS ALAMITOS : Tomanchie Keeps His Trainer on Edge in Drinkers of Wind

With a quarter-mile remaining in the $172,584 Drinkers of the Wind Futurity, the richest race in the history of Arabian racing, trainer Howard Edwards was worried that a victory was slipping from his hands.

Favored Tomanchie, one of four horses in the futurity owned by Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Stud but the only one Edwards trains, was still seven lengths behind entrymate Thunder Tiki with only the final turn and the stretch run remaining in the six-furlong race.

But jockey Sharon Gunther, aboard Tomanchie, wasn’t worried. She believed Tomanchie could still catch Thunder Tiki and went after the leader, making up five lengths and passing three horses in an eighth of a mile to draw within two lengths of Thunder Tiki. Then in the stretch, Tomanchie passed Thunder Tiki and won by 3 1/4 lengths. Edwards, who had come from Delaware in September specifically to train Tomanchie, breathed a sigh of relief.

“I was concerned,” Edwards said. “Sharon knows how much horse she had, but I was dying in the grandstand.”

The victory was Tomanchie’s sixth in seven starts and put the final touch on a 3-year-old championship season.

“This was much better than his trial (victory Oct. 7),” Gunther said. “He wants to make his move later. He’s awesome. He just makes the lead and pricks his ears up like he’s saying, ‘OK, I’m having fun.’ ”

Unchainedd Melody’s seven-length victory in Saturday’s $151,810 Daughters of the Desert Futurity for 3-year-old fillies also was good for a championship. The filly, a sister of Victorias Secrett, 1992 horse of the year, extended her unbeaten streak to seven.

Unchainedd Melody, who like Tomanchie was a stakes winner at Delaware Park over the summer before shipping to California last month, is also owned by a sheikh, Mansoor Bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, who attends college in the United States.

Both horses are expected to race next in the United Arab Emirates, where many of the top-class Arabian horses from the United States have been sent in the last few years.

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The winter racing schedule at Los Alamitos is unclear, even though the end of the quarter horse meeting is only seven weeks away.

The quarter horse season runs through Dec. 12 and would normally be followed by a harness meeting. So far, Allred has been approached by a group of owners and breeders represented by Los Angeles attorney Neil Papiano but no formal discussions have been held.

Harness racing has had tough going at Los Alamitos since last fall, when Lloyd Arnold, a 25% owner of Los Alamitos, announced his retirement as a harness promoter. A group called the California Harness Racing Assn. leased Los Alamitos for a meeting last spring and conducted a summer meeting at Sacramento. The CHRA was headed by horse owners Perry De Luna and Paul Reddam, although Reddam was not involved in the Sacramento season.

The CHRA had intended to conduct three meetings, the third meeting to begin in mid-December and run until the end of April. When a down payment on the winter lease was missed over the summer, however, Allred rescinded his offer to lease the track.

He said any lease would be contingent on two conditions--the lease to run for 13 weeks and, with the exception of stakes races, no simulcasting would be allowed. Last winter, the CHRA simulcast two races a night into Los Alamitos. Sometimes, they were stakes races and sometimes they were overnight races from Illinois and New Jersey. According to Allred, Papiano’s group would like to run through April 15.

Any harness group would not only need to negotiate a lease with Allred, but also receive approval from the California Horse Racing Board.

Allred, who owns 50% of Los Alamitos--the remaining 25% is owned by Chris Bardis of Sacramento--is also the president of the Horsemen’s Quarter Horse Racing Assn., which is conducting the quarter horse meeting. In a one-page bulletin sent to horsemen last week, Allred said that the Los Alamitos barn area would be open for training quarter horses, thoroughbreds, Arabians and appaloosas no later than March 15.

He said that if no harness meeting is conducted this winter, the track surface will undergo a monthlong renovation before opening for training in early February. If that happens, Allred said, he would like to begin racing in mid-March and continue until mid-December. If there is a harness meeting and Allred opens the barn area for training in mid-March, then a quarter horse meeting could begin in early April. No live racing would be conducted in late March, giving horsemen a chance to train over the track before the meeting starts.

Los Alamitos Notes

A Classic Dash, winner of the All American Futurity and the Dash for Cash Futurity in California in July, has been retired because of complications stemming from leg surgery. He will stand at stud in California this winter. . . . Rookie jockey Jose Badilla Jr. won his first Los Alamitos stakes on Friday with Mr Diddy Wa Diddy in the $20,000 Bull Rastus Handicap. Badilla is among the top 15 quarter horse riders at Los Alamitos. Mr Diddy Wa Diddy, a 5-year-old gelding owned by Gladys DeWolf and trained by Chuck Treece, won by three-quarters of a length and paid $44.20. . . . An unidentified gambler in Las Vegas bet $200,000 to show on Unchainedd Melody, the largest single wager in Los Alamitos history. The filly paid $2.10 to show.

Jockey Ken Blackstun escaped serious injury when he fell shortly after winning the seventh race last Saturday. Blackstun was aboard Heez My Flame in the 12-horse Arabian race and was kicked by a trailing horse. Blackstun is expected to leave the United States and ride over the winter in the United Arab Emirates. . . . Two major stakes highlight this weekend’s racing. The Z. Wayne Griffin Director’s Handicap is set for Saturday, headed by Reign Of Terror. Sound Dash, who won the HQHRA Handicap, is the probable favorite in Sunday’s $50,000 Anne Burnett Invitational, if she is entered on Thursday.