Funicello Is No Mickey Mouse Fan

Annette Funicello, one of America’s favorite Mouseketeers in her youth, now spends much of her time cheering for standardbreds such as Miskiteer and Mickey’s Girl at Los Alamitos.

Harness racing is the favorite hobby of the former actress, wife of Los Alamitos trainer-owner Glen Holt. She was in the winner’s circle Sunday after Holt’s sixth victory of the meet, with Mickey’s Girl, a 5-year-old mare pacer.

Funicello, who visits the track weekly despite a battle with multiple sclerosis, refuses to let the restrictions of a wheelchair dampen her enthusiasm. Holt wheels his wife to the edge of the paddock before a race so she can experience the sights, sounds and smells of the sport she has followed for more than three decades.

“Her parents bought Annette her first horse, Troy Hedgewood, who raced at Hollywood Park in 1962,” Holt said. “That’s how we met.

“When we got married [10 years ago], we went out to a pasture on my farm with 15 yearlings, and I wanted to give her one for a wedding gift. One shy colt who never came up to anyone came up to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Naturally, she wanted that one, and she named him Uncle Walt--after Walt Disney. He raced in the East until he was 5 before we gave him to a riding stable in Pennsylvania.”

Holt and Funicello divide their time between a home in Encino and his 80-acre farm in Shafter, near Bakersfield.

“I love the farm,” Funicello said. “It’s my hideaway, my escape.”

She is responsible for several of the names in the 15-horse stable. Besides Mickey’s Girl, she named Miskiteer, a promising 3-year-old filly trotter.

The couple hopes Miskiteer follows stable star David’s Marenga, who has won 10 of 30 starts as one of the top 4-year-old mare trotters in the state. She is expected to be a favorite in a stakes race here Feb. 16.

“Sue Broughten, her breeder, gave me this filly as a yearling when she was getting out of the business,” Holt said. “She’s never made a break [in gait]. She’s about as natural as any trotter I’ve ever trained.

“She’s not very big but she’s got a heart as big as a mountain,” said Holt of the daughter of Camp David. “She likes to race covered up and make one late move. Annette named her too. The [merengue] is a dance, and Annette was a dancer.”

Harness Racing Notes

Hi Ho Silverheel’s, a 5-year-old pacer coming back after a year off because of an ankle injury, beat Predazzo N, the 1995 pacer of the meet, in last Saturday’s feature, winning by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:54 1/5 on a track listed as good. Co-owner Roy Moorefield of Downey indicated the horse would race here several more times but may be lured east by richer stakes near the end of the meet. Milan Smith, the horse’s trainer, has six firsts, five seconds and three thirds in 15 starts with his three-horse stable. . . . Rick Plano drove seven winners last week, four in consecutive races Friday, and leads the meeting with 27 victories, one more than seven-time champion Rick Kuebler. Plano also trained six winners and has a 24-21 lead over Rudy Sialana. Canadian driver John Glen also had a big week with five winners. . . . Alan Kirschenbaum, best known as the executive co-producer of the ABC sitcom “Coach,” drove his first winner of the meet in 13 tries with Yankee Pasta, his 4-year-old trotting mare. Kirschenbaum, 35, has 10 horses here. A standardbred aficionado since his teens, Kirschenbaum drove his first parimutuel winner here last year. . . . Carlo Fisco, the only practicing lawyer among the drivers, steered Little Arnetta to victory in a prep for a California Breeders’ Stake for 3-year-old filly trotters Friday. . . . California-bred sophomores will be in four stakes races this weekend. Gee Gee Digger, who has learned to relax and rate, will be heavily favored in the colt-gelding pace Sunday after an impressive victory over older horses.