LOS ALAMITOS : Trainer Gordon Has a Special Stake in Success of Harness Racing Meet

Trainer Bobby Gordon raced around Los Alamitos almost as fast as his horses Saturday night.

He barely had time to stop and catch his breath over the course of the evening spent checking on horses in the paddock and talking with horse owners and fellow investors in the Premier Harness Racing Assn. He also squeezed in two trips to the winner’s circle.

Gordon, of Anaheim, was a frequent visitor to the winner’s circle last week, winning five races and climbing to fourth in the trainers’ standings. He accomplished more in three nights than he had in the previous six weeks, when he won nine races in 67 starts.

“The horses have started racing better,” Gordon said. “I’m still doing the same thing.”

Gordon not only oversees a 14-horse stable, but has been active in the management of the current meeting. The PHRA consists of 20 owners who have funded the winter harness meeting.

Gordon won’t take full credit for it, but without his efforts, this meeting might not have taken place. Through the summer and fall, he worked the phones, talking with owners and trainers, seeking horses and investors for a meeting.

“There wouldn’t have been a harness meeting if (Gordon) hadn’t continuously bugged, harassed and pleaded with everyone to get involved,” said Paul Reddam, a horse owner and investor in the season. “The California harness horsemen owe him deep gratitude.”

Lately, Gordon has had the chance to concentrate on the sport of harness racing instead of its business side. When Stand By won the invitational for fillies and mares Friday, the victory was indicative of Gordon’s season: It was merely a matter of time before he started winning.

Most of Gordon’s stable consists of older horses such as the 8-year-old Stand By, a New Zealand mare owned by Bob and Loretta Staats of Los Angeles. In fact, it was a big weekend for the Staatses. Saturday, Scotch Raven, their 6-year-old New Zealand-bred horse, won his first Los Alamitos race.

Stand By lost her first six starts of 1994, but won Friday’s $6,500 feature by a neck over Mystical Ransom. In the last few years, Stand By has developed into one of the best older mares in the nation.

In 1992, she made her U.S. debut, becoming the top mare of the Los Alamitos meeting.

Last year, she raced in Illinois and California, winning 13 of 27 starts and earning more than $102,000. Along the way, she set track records at Los Alamitos, Sportsman’s Park and Balmoral Park. At Balmoral, near Chicago, she paced a mile in 1:52 1/5, the fastest time of her career.

This year, Stand By has raced at Los Alamitos with mixed results. She was second or third in her first three starts, but in three subsequent starts was fourth or fifth. Her worse performance came on Feb. 11, when she was a well-beaten fifth in the fillies invitational after going off-stride at the start. Then, a week later, she was in the winner’s circle.

“She hit the gate or something (in her previous race),” Gordon said. “All her luck was bad.”

Scotch Raven won five of 10 starts and earned more than $19,000 racing for Gordon in Chicago last year. The horse proved he belonged with a best time of 1:54 4/5 and victory in a $10,000 series during late October at Chicago’s Maywood Park.

His first three starts at Los Alamitos in ’94 were disappointing. He was a good second in the invitational on Jan. 22, but was sixth and seventh in his next two starts. He took last week off, then returned Saturday to beat an easier field, finishing the mile in 1:55, a fifth of a second slower than his best time.

“He hasn’t been 100% in the last few weeks,” Gordon said. “He was shod wrong, and that set him back. I’m hoping he’ll be better in the next couple of weeks.”

Gordon is still eight victories behind leading trainer Frank Sherren and, with five weeks remaining in the harness meeting, might need his entire stable at its best to have any chance of winning the title.

Gordon is already a winner in the eyes of many harness fans.

“I guess I did put (this meet) together,” he said. “It wasn’t easy, but someone had to do it if we were going to race.”

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The harness meeting reached the halfway mark of the 38-night meeting Friday. Although the handle has lagged behind expectations, it has risen in the last few weeks.

Through Saturday, the average handle was $775,410, which is roughly $75,000 below projections. In early February, purses were cut 20% as a result of poor handles in January. For the first three weeks of the meeting, the average handle was $705,891.

The rise can be attributed mainly to two factors. The shortage of horses, which plagued the opening, has eased, and the twin-trifecta has had sizable carryovers twice this month. Because of the horse shortage, three races have been simulcast nightly from the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. On three occasions, bad weather has forced the cancellation of that portion of the program, which averages $150,000 a night in wagers.

General Manager Fred Kuebler said the purse situation is being evaluated.

“I anticipate the last six weeks to have a major turnaround,” he said. “I think we can average $900,000 (during the rest of the meeting). It has been an ordeal, a challenge. I’m not in the least bit disheartened. I think we can turn it around.”

Equally important, conversations have begun between Reddam and Edward Allred, a 50% owner of the track, about a similar harness meeting next winter.

“Ed and I have talked, and he’s anxious to go forward,” Reddam said. “Hopefully, we’ll have something worked out in the next month.”