HORSE RACING / BOB MIESZERSKI : Looming Strike Spoils Stevens’ Upset Victory

Gary Stevens should have been happy after riding Top Rung to an upset victory in the $108,700 La Brea Stakes on Wednesday at Santa Anita, but he had other things on his mind.

He and other Jockeys’ Guild members plan a work stoppage on Jan. 1 because of a national dispute with Thoroughbred Racing Assns. tracks over health and accident insurance.

Stevens attended an informational meeting Wednesday morning in the jockeys room, along with Santa Anita President Cliff Goodrich, racing office personnel, jockey agents and other interested parties.

“We wanted more or less to give an update on the conference call the executive committee (of the Jockeys’ Guild) was involved in (Tuesday night),” said Stevens, who is on the Guild’s board of directors. “There are several proposals from individual tracks that are being looked at and some counterproposals have been made, so we’re not at a complete standstill.

“I’m sympathetic to track management and owners and trainers and there’s nothing that I want more than to see horse racing prosper. I’m scared to death. This is a scary situation right now. I stand to give up a lot and every jockey (that goes on strike) stands to lose a lot, but I believe I’m doing the right thing. Hopefully, this will come to a happy ending on all four fronts (jockeys, owners, trainers and track management).”

Goodrich, who spoke at the meeting, would not confirm that Santa Anita is one of the tracks negotiating with the Guild.

“There’s not really anything new,” he said. “Both sides are trying to figure out what we can do to keep the jockeys riding on Jan. 1. No one has come up with any magic pill yet.”

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Making her stakes debut, Top Rung, a 9 to 1 shot, rallied from net-to-last in the seven-furlong La Brea, defeating Klassy Kim by three-quarters of a length in 1:21 4/5.

Twice The Vice, the 11-10 favorite making her first start for new owners Marty and Pam Wygod and trainer Ron Ellis, was another length behind after breaking slowly. She finished two lengths ahead of 1993 Eclipse Award winner Phone Chatter.

On or just off the lead in her previous five starts, Top Rung settled early under Stevens but was wide into the stretch.

“(Trainer) Willard Proctor has told me since the first time I rode her not to rush her,” said Stevens, who has been aboard the 3-year-old Seattle Slew filly four times. “She warmed up very, very relaxed today. With Willard’s plans for her down the road, I decided to ride her as if the race was 1 1/8 miles.

“I just let her gallop down the backside and she was still in striking distance without doing anything. Going into the turn, I thought she was going to win by as far as you can throw a tennis ball. But, she must have seen something at the three-eighths pole down on the rail and she bolted with me clear out past the middle of the racetrack.

“I thought she was going to run back to the barn with me. We must have lost seven or eight lengths around the turn and she was still able to overcome it.”

Horse Racing Notes

Turf Paradise in Phoenix took entries for its Jan. 1 card and only one of the top five riders in the current standings, second-place Mark Hanna, took mounts. Eighty-eight horses were entered in nine races. . . . Eiji Nakadate, the seventh-leading rider in Japan this year, won with his second mount in the United States on Wednesday, directing 24-1 shot Count Con to an upset in the first race. Nakadate, 29, is expected to return to Japan around Jan. 1. . . . Afternoon Deelites, unbeaten in three starts and awesome in victories in the Hollywood Prevue and Hollywood Futurity, will likely make his next start in the $100,000 San Vicente Breeders’ Cup Stakes on Feb. 12. . . . Paul Atkinson, one of three jockeys involved in a spill on Monday, is scheduled to return to riding today. He was off his mounts Wednesday because of a bruised elbow. . . . Fernando Valenzuela, who suffered compression fractures of his spine, will be sidelined for six to eight weeks. “He’s been walking around (at Arcadia Methodist Hospital),” said Valenzuela’s agent, Ray Kravagna. “He’s in a back brace and he has a chip on one of his vertebrae, but there isn’t anything that’s career-threatening.” . . . Still bothered by sore ribs after being involved in that Monday spill, Chris McCarron took off his final two mounts Wednesday and will not ride today. . . . Although disappointed in the La Brea, the Wygods and Ellis finished 1-2 in the $60,800 Market Basket. Kep Phrase won for the fourth time in as many starts, beating stablemate Pirate’s Revenge. She covered the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15 and the entry paid $5.60.

* MORE HORSE RACING: Santa Anita handicap and consensus. C12