LOS ALAMITOS : Pena Hopes Hot Streak Continues

Robin Burns, the sometimes outrageous harness announcer at Los Alamitos, occasionally liked to call driver Lou Pena “Lou Jala-Pena,” in the style of Chris Berman. Burns is right about one thing: Pena has been hot as a pepper in recent months on the California circuit.

The leading driver and trainer for the first time at the two Sacramento meets this year, Pena, 27, had two firsts, three seconds and a third in 10 drives on opening night Friday at Los Alamitos, despite a bout with flu.

By Saturday, Pena’s condition had deteriorated and he quit after four races.

“I got nothing left; I can’t sit up,” he said in the driver’s room.

“I had the biggest meet of my life at Sacramento and made a name for myself,” said Pena, fifth in both the driver and trainer standings last year at Los Alamitos. “I’ll try to do the same here. It’s a little tougher, but not that much. If I could lead here, that would probably make my stable the biggest in California.”

A native of La Palma, Mexico, Pena moved to the United States at 4 with his father, a groom, and grew up at Del Mar taking notes in the stables of leading harness drivers Jerry Silverman, Jim Dennis and Doug Ackerman.

Pena’s father, Vince, has managed Beck Farms in Stockton the last seven years. “I started traveling with my dad on the California circuit when I was 13 and started to help as a groom,” Pena said. “But I really got to learn how to train when Gary Baker took over the stable for a year and a half when I was 15. He taught me how to hang them up right and keep them as sound as possible.”

Pena earned his qualifying license to drive at 16 and won his first race that year at Fairplex Park with California Magic.

“I was hustling around for some drives and then started training with one horse, then got two and three,” recalled Pena of the early lean times. That number reached 20 in the late 1980s when he picked up stock from such major owners as Suzanne Broughten and Andy Taylor. Pena added luster with the invitational pacer Positron in recent years. His barn has grown to 27 as he hopes to climb to another level.

Harness Racing Notes

The meet will be highlighted April 5 by the inaugural $50,000 Pres Jenuine Pace, an open event named in memory of the long-time Western Harness executive and Hall of Fame member, who died last summer. . . . Friday produced a record opening-night Los Alamitos harness handle of $1,496,321, with $1,191,814 bet off-track. That included $202,869 bet at Hollywood Park, $178,513 in Illinois, $105,667 at Santa Anita and $113,081 at Bay Meadows, where the thoroughbred racing was fogged out. On-track, 3,203 fans bet $304,507. . . . Trainer Rudy Sialana, off to a fast start with four victories, is eagerly awaiting the local debut of 2-year-old pacing star Gee Gee Digger this week. Sialana trained Predazzo N, horse of the meet here last year. . . . Rick Kuebler, driving after knee surgery in July, guided Best Effort to victory by a nose over Poncho in the $10,000 feature pace Saturday. The one-two finishers shipped in from Maryland with trainer Steve Warrington. . . . Nicol Tremblay also has a lot of 2-year-old talent, including The Beast’s Beauty, who broke her maiden Saturday. . . . Racing this week will be tonight, Friday and Saturday nights before beginning a Thursday-through-Sunday format next week through April 7.