LOS ALAMITOS : Tremblay Resumes Winning Ways

Driver Nicol Tremblay is back on the racetrack, winning races and continuing his best season in recent years, despite having been involved in one of the worst spills in California harness racing in several years.

Tremblay, 52, won races with two of his best 3-year-old fillies last week--Hutt Girl and Fancy Margarita. Tremblay’s quick return was a credit to his physical condition.

Four horses and drivers were involved in the spill March 12. Driver Len Blaylock suffered the worst injuries--a broken elbow and a broken ankle--that kept him hospitalized until the middle of last week. Tremblay suffered a chipped bone in an ankle. Drivers Mark P’Pool and D.R. Ackerman, also involved, were uninjured.

None of the four horses were seriously injured.

“I saw the accident (start to) happen, but I didn’t have time to get out of the way,” Tremblay said. “It happened so fast.”

This week, Tremblay has almost equaled the last week in February, his best this year, when two of his 3-year-olds--Cat In A Hat and Mariah’s Tribute--won divisions of the California Sires Stakes.

On Thursday, Mariah’s Tribute won his second stake of the meeting in a $15,000 California Sires Stakes for 3-year-old trotting colts. It was his first victory in a month and came two weeks after a fourth-place finish in a Sires Stakes that he led into the stretch.

Mariah’s Tribute, co-owned by Spirit of Lodi Farm and Nicol’s 27-year-old daughter, Nathalie, has won two of 10 starts and $23,840. In the last six weeks, Tremblay has changed the shoes on the gelding and watched him develop into one of the leading 3-year-olds in California. Only Hunter’s Key has also won two stakes in that division.

Thursday’s stake was conducted in less than ideal conditions. Horses had to contend with a sloppy track and a driving rainstorm. Tremblay kept Mariah’s Tribute off the pace until the horses were half a mile from home. At that point, he moved around the early leaders and held off River City Sir for a 1 1/2-length victory. The time of 2:03 1/5 was exceptionally fast, considering that another field of trotters was timed in 2:08 later in the evening.

“I had to keep a strong hold on him,” Tremblay said. “He wanted to go fast, but I couldn’t let him or he might have gone off-stride.”

Last year, Mariah’s Tribute was fourth in three of his four races at Sacramento. His best finish was a second behind Magna Missile in a $16,000 stakes in August. He returned to the races in January and finished fourth in two races before finishing seventh against older horses on Feb. 10. Since then, he has had two strong races despite the March 12 mishap.

Having horses that are competitive in each division of the 3-year-old stakes is a major reason Tremblay is doing so well. He is among the top 10 drivers and top 15 trainers, and several of his stakes horses have won or placed in major races.

Fancy Margarita has been second to division leader Lil Eggie in stakes for 3-year-old trotting fillies this year. Fancy Margarita won her first race in 15 starts on Thursday, but has earned more than $20,000. She has the misfortune of being part of the same California foal crop as Lil Eggie, who has won nine of 12 starts over the last few years.

Heated Debate, a 4-year-old trotting filly whom Tremblay co-owns with Tom Durant, has won two of nine starts this year, including the $26,000 Electioneer Futurity for 4-year-old fillies on Jan. 27.

Tremblay’s pacers are also having an excellent meeting. Cat In A Hat, whom he co-owns with Wendi Wiener of Yorba Linda, won the sires stakes division for 3-year-old pacing colts on Feb. 26.