LOS ALAMITOS : Hi Ho Silverheels Tries to Gain Identity as a Winning Pacer

“Who was that masked horse?” is a question trainer Milan Smith hopes to hear frequently this year with his popularly-named rags-to-riches pacer, Hi Ho Silverheels.

The 4-year-old horse is scheduled to ship here from a nearby farm this week to begin training for an ambitious campaign that Smith hopes will earn national honors. Smith named the bargain colt after his late friend, Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto in the old “Lone Ranger” television series.

Almost that much time has elapsed since a standardbred with California connections was named harness horse of the year, 1973, when Sir Dalrae earned the honor for Los Angeles restaurateur Bill Smith’s A La Carte Racing Stable. Sir Dalrae died this year in New Zealand at 26.

The trainer hopes another harness horse with Smith connections ends the drought. “Bill Fahy, his driver, called me last week from New Jersey and said he might be the best pacer in the country this year,” said Smith. “I said, ‘Let’s keep our fingers crossed, and with the Lord’s help, maybe he’ll make it.’ ”

Smith trains the colt for his wife, Myrna, and Roy Mooresfield, a contractor from Downey. Smith recalled buying Hi Ho Silverheels for practically nothing at a yearling sale here.

“Mr. Mooresfield and I bought him for $1,850, tax included,” Smith said. “Suzanne Broughten was dispersing some of her horses bred out of state. He had a big cut on the back of his leg, which scared off a majority of bidders. And it was late in the sale.”

Smith, 71, knew he had something special when he began line-driving and jogging the colt at Highland Farms near Victorville. “He was just a natural,” Smith said of the New Jersey-bred son of Walton Hanover.

Hi Ho Silverheels lived up to his potential last year, winning 14 of 21 starts throughout the nation, earning $364,000 and taking a life mark of 1:50 3/5 over the mile oval at Garden State, N.J. He won his first four starts here last spring for driver Rick Kuebler.

“The Lone Ranger used to say, ‘Hi Ho Silver, Away!’ ” explained Smith of the name. “When he was clear in the stretch last year at Garden State, the announcer said, ‘It’s the Lone Ranger out there all alone by himself!’ ”

Smith, who grew up on a Sioux Indian reservation in South Dakota, befriended Silverheels on the set in Hollywood when he worked as a movie stuntman and the latter was playing Tonto. Silverheels also was brought up on an Indian reservation, in Ontario, Canada.

“I had a couple of harness horses, and Jay would come over to Hollywood Park and enjoyed jogging them,” said Smith. “Jay had a driver’s license and went on a promotional tour that I managed back East around 1973 or ’74. He autographed pictures the tracks gave away and won a few races.”

Smith hopes Hi Ho Silverheels wins a few more in his memory. “He had two months off at Highland Farms after his last race in November and has been swimming the last two weeks at Emerald Meadows Ranch in Riverside,” he said.

“If he doesn’t make the end of the meet here (March 25), we’ll get him ready for his first start in Sacramento next month for his first major stake in May at Freehold (N.J.). Our stakes schedule is for him to race 18 or 20 times this year, including the Breeders Crown.

“We’ve got big expectations for him. If we get a warm night and somebody cuts a good mile, I hope he can go in under 1:50.”

Note

The Capitol Harness Racing Assn., a horseman’s group, received approval from the California Horse Racing Board to conduct a 16-week meet at Sacramento from March 31-July 22.