Driver Doesn’t Win, but It’s Still a Victory

After the fourth race was over at Los Alamitos Thursday night, Jim Lackey came over and congratulated O.J. Waddell for his second-place drive.

“He told me I had done a good job,” Waddell said. “Those were encouraging words, and they meant a lot to me, because Jim’s been one of the guys who weren’t in favor of this. He’s got a right to his opinion, but he hasn’t liked it.”

Lackey, driving Kudos For Ahab, finished third in the $2,700 claiming pace as Waddell at last realized a dream that’s been recurring for more than 15 years. Paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot in the back at a college party in 1979, Waddell drove in his first parimutuel race and finished second with Hutt Girl. The ageless 8-year-old mare, making her 175th start, finished second, 3 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Canterbury Tower, and 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Lackey’s pacer.

Helen Waddell looked relieved. O.J. Waddell’s mother had been too nervous to watch most of her son’s 12 qualifying races, but she couldn’t sit at home and worry Thursday.

“He knows how,” she said. “He’s waited a long time for this night. He’s been waiting for his full glory. But I knew he could do it. I knew he could handle a horse.”

Hutt Girl was the horse Waddell drove in his first qualifying race, on Jan. 13. Winner of one of nine starts this year, the mare was listed at 12-1 on the morning line, longest price in the seven-horse field, but the early money made her the 9-5 favorite seven minutes before post time. Hutt Girl went off at 10-1.

The track, bombarded by rain all day, was sloppy. Just before the race, Waddell and Hutt Girl returned to the paddock, to correct the rubbing mud fenders on the horse’s sulky. Breaking from the No. 1 post, not a good place to be on an off track, Waddell kept Hutt Girl toward the inside the first time around as they trailed three other horses. Canterbury Tower, driven by Steve Desomer, was on the lead.

Approaching the final turn, Waddell swung his horse to the outside as Canterbury Tower began to pull away from the field. Through the lane, Hutt Girl was no match for the winner, who finished the mile in 1:59.

“At the three-quarters is where I lost the race,” Waddell said. “Maybe I should have moved sooner. But at the end I just swatted my mare a couple of times. I didn’t want to abuse her. I deserved this chance. I feel I’m very talented as a driver. It was a successful start, but I wanted to win. But second was all right. We got some money, if you don’t get some of the money every time, you’re not in this game very long.”

Said Desomer: “It’s still a danger for him to drive. I’ve broken bones three times in this game, and I know what it’s like. . . . He could be dragged across the track and be seriously injured. But he drives safe horses, and I wouldn’t be afraid to sit behind him.”

Waddell, 37, will drive Laagin tonight in the $20,000 first leg of the Arnold Pacing Series.

“The stewards have approved him to drive, so I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt,” Lackey said. “If he drives every race the way he did this one, there will be no problems.”

Horse Racing Notes

Silver Charm, trying to win the Dubai World Cup for the second consecutive year, has been established by British bookmakers as the 2-1 favorite for Sunday’s $5-million race in the United Arab Emirates. The field, in post-position order with jockeys: High-Rise, Frankie Dettori; Central Park, Daragh O’Donohoe; Silver Charm, Gary Stevens; Victory Gallop, Jerry Bailey; Daylami, John Velazquez; Almutawagel, Richard Hills; Malek, Alex Solis, and Running Stag, Ray Cochrane.