LOS ALAMITOS : Longshot Daily Triple Puts Figueroa a Giant Step Farther in Comeback

Jockey Roman Figueroa hadn’t had a major victory this meeting before riding Daily Triple in the $85,000 Governor’s Cup Derby last Friday. But in Figueroa’s mind, he had already scored his biggest victory of the year.

“Keeping my fingers was a pretty big win,” he said.

Figueroa was alluding to an accident that nearly ended his riding career earlier this year. In mid-February, Figueroa was working in his garage when he accidentally cut his hand on a table saw. The accident nearly severed four of the fingers from his left hand.

In a 2 1/2-hour operation, doctors were able to save Figueroa’s fingers, including the index finger, which had bone and joint damage. In the process, they saved his career.

“When he went into surgery the surgeon knew he was an athlete and needed his hand, so he did everything possible to save it,” said Figueroa’s wife, Brenda.

For about two months, Figueroa underwent physical therapy for his hand. In mid-April, about the same time the Los Alamitos meeting was opening, he decided to discontinue it.

“I went to therapy for a long time, but it wasn’t helping,” Figueroa said.

It was late May, more than three months after the accident and six weeks into the meeting, before Figueroa rode in a race.

“There’s a lot to do with your hands,” Figueroa said. “A lot of your riding is in your hands and feeling your horse.”

And feeling was one thing the 39-year-old jockey was having trouble with. There was none in his index finger and he had limited sensation in the others. Although he was no longer attending therapy sessions, Figueroa exercised his hand, doing stretches and strengthening exercises.

He had ranked 10th in the nation in money earned last year but is far from that kind of success this year. He has chances, with mounts in many of the stakes races at Los Alamitos, among them the Kindergarten and Miss Kindergarten Futurities and the Los Alamitos Derby.

“I’ve had kind of a cold meet so far, so you get to thinking it’s the hand,” he said. “If I said it felt comfortable all the time since I’ve been back, I’d be lying.”

Finally, on Friday, Figueroa got the mount on a 25-1 shot named Daily Triple for the Grade I Governor’s Cup Derby. Jockey Ralph Seville had qualified both Daily Triple and Movados for trainer Brian Koriner and chose to ride Movados in the final.

Daily Triple, who had not won a stake since last year’s Kindergarten Futurity, was part of a strong field that included Southern California Derby winner Artesias Special Gal, multiple stakes winner Totally Illegal and Grade I stakes winner Rainbow Sun.

Figueroa took Daily Triple to the front early, battling The Money Crunch for the lead. Drawing away near the wire, Daily Triple defeated The Money Crunch by a neck.

It was also the first major victory of the year for Legacy Ranch, which owns Daily Triple. But it wasn’t the first Governor’s Cup Derby victory for the ranch, which had won it in 1989 with Griswold.

Griswold, an 8-year-old gelding, has since made a name for himself as the best distance quarter horse in the nation. The three-time champion, however, has had trouble this year. He started the year in the 400-yard All-Star Jockey Challenge, in which he finished fifth. Returning to 870-yard races, Griswold finished second in the Table Tennis and Pat Hyland Memorial Handicaps, each time under John Creager.

Griswold, who is trained by Daryn Charlton, will get a chance to redeem himself Saturday night in the 870-yard Katella Handicap.

“He’s doing everything we ask him,” said Legacy co-owner Pete Parella of Griswold. “I think he’s going to run a big race in the Katella Handicap.”

Parella indicated that Henry Garcia might ride Griswold, as he did during the horse’s 1991 and 1992 championship campaigns.

Los Alamitos Notes

Refrigerator, the defending world champion, is a probable starter in the Grade I Vessels Maturity on Friday night. The gelding will seek to avenge his loss to Down With Debt in the Go Man Go Handicap last month. . . . Arabians will also be featured this weekend, with four races scheduled Friday and Saturday: the $100,000 Gladys Brown Edwards Handicap, the $40,000 California Open and two divisions of the $30,000 Arabian Cup Juvenile.