LOS ALAMITOS : Light Foyle Gets Better With Age

As the only teen-ager racing at Los Alamitos, the 13-year-old gelding Light Foyle has every excuse to start slowing down.

Instead, the opposite has happened. Thursday night, Light Foyle won the final of the $5,000 La Palma Pace, his sixth victory in 10 starts this year.

It wasn’t easy, though. Light Foyle trailed the field after the first half of the one-mile race and had to move three horses wide on the turn and hold off rallies by HR Majik and Kendal Eric to win by a nose. His winning time of 1:58 1/5 was one of his best of the year.

Light Foyle is several years older than the average harness horse, but he went four for four in February. He is owned by Mark Anderson and driven by James Lackey.

“Heart separates him from the rest,” Lackey said. “Kendal Eric was by him, and he fought back. And then (near the finish), it looked like (HR Majik) was going to catch him, but he stuck his nose in front.

“No matter the sport, you can always find one or two athletes like Nolan Ryan who stay competitive longer than the norm. I’m really happy that he won.”

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Jockey Roman Figueroa is expected to sit out the first six weeks of the coming quarter horse meeting after suffering a hand injury in a power-saw accident in late February.

Figueroa, of Cypress, faces several months of major rehabilitation. The injury is not expected to permanently disable any of his fingers, but his index finger was seriously injured.

“I’m doing as good can be expected,” he said. “I’ll go to therapy four days a week and I’m starting to get movement in my fingers. Hopefully, the ligaments will stay loose.”

Figueroa, 39, is coming off his best Los Alamitos meeting. He finished fourth in the jockeys’ standings, winning 87 races, most of them for trainer Blane Schvaneveldt, his father-in-law.

Figueroa’s mounts earned more than $617,000 in 1993, putting him 10th on the national list. He won eight stakes last year, among them the Independence Day Handicap aboard Sadiesal, the Breeders Sophomore Classic on High Easy Dash, the Vandy’s Flash Handicap with This Jet Is Royal, and the Directors Handicap with Sir Goldminer.

Like most quarter horse jockeys, Figueroa hasn’t had many racing opportunities since the meeting here ended in mid-December. The injury kept him from traveling to Sunland Park in New Mexico in the hope of getting a ride in the West Texas Futurity trials on March 2.

Even though he will sit out at least the first six weeks of the spring meeting, his spirits have remained high.

“I was pretty down the first week, but after I talked with the doctor I was pretty positive,” he said. “I’ve had injuries before meetings before and it bursts your bubble. Now, I have a chance to wait and come in fresh.

“I’ll be back for the good 2-year-olds,” he said. “By then, all the riders will be getting off 2-year-olds, thinking something else is better, and I’ll be there to pick them up.”