His Name’s Catchy, but Few Can Stop Hi Ho Silverheel’s

Hi Ho Silverheel’s had plenty of energy after equaling the Los Alamitos track record of 1:51 2/5 Saturday night.

The 5-year-old pacer bit Kenny Fowler, who leads horses to the winner’s circle, drawing blood from his left thumb.

The son of Walton Hanover was still full of himself the next morning. “He was nippy; he bit me two or three times,” said trainer Milan Smith.

Hi Ho Silverheel’s is quickly running out of worlds to conquer in California and may be headed east as early as next month.

“If the weather was right, he would leave around March 15 for New Jersey and get two weeks to acclimatize for the first leg of the Graduate Series March 30 at the Meadowlands,” Smith said.

A five-hour plane ride would be a far cry from his last trip east two years ago. “Last time, we drove in a pickup truck and an old trailer,” said Smith, 72. “It took a week.

“I wanted to to turn back three times before we hit the Mississippi River, but my wife, Myrna [a co-owner], believed this is a God-given horse and said, ‘No, we’ve got to try him.’ ”

Hi Ho Silverheel’s won 14 of 21 starts, set two track records and earned $364,000 in 1994. A ligament injury above his ankle sidelined him last year, but he has looked better than ever with three consecutive victories at this meet.

The latest left onlookers awe-struck, considering that it was only his third start after a 14-month layoff, that he had plenty left and that the other 1:51 2/5 clocking, set by T.K.’s Skipper on Sept. 29, 1990, came at a much warmer time of year and when most horses had rounded into peak form.

Hi Ho Silverheel’s turned in arguably the most impressive performance in the 24-year history of harness racing at the track. He left from Post 9, from the second tier along the rail, and spotted the field a length, equal to a fifth of a second.

“I gave him his head at the top of the stretch but never touched him with the whip,” said driver Rick Kuebler after the four-length victory. “When I started driving him, I thought he had a legitimate chance of being the best in the nation, and this only confirms it.”

Hi Ho Silverheel’s made a quick burst from fourth to take control approaching the half and was timed in 55 2/5 for the second half. “He has all the weapons,” Kuebler said. “He doesn’t have to be on the front end.”

Hi Ho Silverheel’s is a track promoter’s dream: an $1,850 bargain yearling with a catchy name in memory of Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto in “The Lone Ranger” TV series; Smith, who grew up on a Sioux Indian reservation in South Dakota and befriended Silverheels as a Hollywood stuntman; and co-owner Roy Moorefield, a Downey contractor from West Virginia who resembles Jed Clampett, the Buddy Ebsen character in “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

Driver Steve Warrington, a Maryland native who sees most of the top horses in the East each summer, says that Hi Ho Silverheel’s does not need to take second billing to anybody.

“I think he might be the best in the country now,” said Warrington. “He might have been one of the two best as a 3-year-old. He has a strong constitution and is a born natural.

“He’s every small man’s dream,” said Warrington of the horse’s unheralded connections. “Everywhere that horse goes, everybody will be cheering for him.”

Mary Silverheels, widow of Jay Silverheels, and Jay Silverheels Jr., one of their four children, were present for Hi Ho Silverheel’s record mile. “The track record would have thrilled Jay to death,” Smith said. “He had a provisional license. What a promotion if he had driven him!”

Moorefield, who is looking for someone to write a screenplay on the horse, hopes there will be several more exciting chapters this year.

Harness Racing Notes

Driver Derek Wilson, a Calgary resident in his first meet here, recorded an unusual double: his first Los Alamitos victory with 17-1 longshot Matty Arbuckle and a triumph in a track promotion in which drivers pull a sulky about 100 yards through the stretch with their wives aboard. “My granddad, Forrest Wilson, drove in California during the late ‘60s and ‘70s,” said Wilson, 35. Brian Solden, 29, also drove his first Los Alamitos winner, favored Gentleman Hanover.

The $15,000 California Sire Stakes for 3-year-old filly trotters was a family affair. Makena Star, the winner, was trained by Denise Maier and driven by her husband, Tim Maier. Runner-up Oprah, who has a future worth talking about, is trained by Denise’s father, Ray Richmond. . . . Rick Plano holds narrow leads in the driver and trainer standings, 36-34 over Rick Kuebler in the former and 32-29 over Rudy Sialana in the latter. Milan Smith, who also won the feature pace for mares with Nicol’s Doll, has recorded nine firsts, five seconds and four thirds with 20 starters from his three-horse stable.