Sherman Returns to Win at Fairplex

Thirty-four years after Art Sherman rode Injunction to victory in the first running of the Foothill Stakes at the Los Angeles County Fair, he was back in the winner’s circle for the same race. This time, Sherman saddled Presidio Heights, a front-running sort who won Friday’s Foothill as the fair launched its 18-day stand at Fairplex Park in Pomona.

Before Presidio Heights’ win--the 3-year-old gelding’s third in six starts--Sherman sat in the Fairplex stands and had flashbacks of what it was like to ride at the fair more than three decades ago.

“They didn’t even have a jocks’ room,” the 64-year-old trainer said. “We changed in tents that they set up between the barns. They’d really jam the people into this place. It would be wall-to-wall people, and they’d let you know real good if you didn’t ride a horse right. It was only a half-mile track then [it’s a furlong longer now]. I thought I was a pretty good bullring rider.”

Sherman, whose stable is based in Northern California, estimated that he rode about 1,000 winners in a career than ended when he switched to training in 1976. Sherman’s biggest victory in Pomona was with Imperial Silk in a division of the Pomona Derby in 1966. Imperial Silk’s win was worth $5,025; last year’s Pomona Derby winner earned $55,000. Presidio Heights earned $27,500 of Friday’s $50,000 purse.

“There’s a lot of history to this place,” Sherman said. “It’s kind of cool to come here and be reminded of those days.”

Presidio Heights, who cost $60,000 as a yearling, was Sherman’s first stakes winner as a trainer in Pomona. After two impressive wins in Northern California at mid-year, the horse had a rude introduction to stakes company at Del Mar, where he finished last in the Relaunch on Aug. 10.

Running 61/2 furlongs in 1:10 under Frank Alvarado, Presidio Heights paid $11.60 as the third choice. He beat Kinston by 13/4 lengths, with Bettor Royalty finishing third, another three-quarters of a length back. The 2-1 favorite, Way To The Top, was in contention early before finishing seventh in the eight-horse field.

Alvarado hadn’t ridden Presidio Heights since the horse broke his maiden by seven lengths at Bay Meadows in June.

“He broke good, showed a lot of speed, rated on the lead and won easy,” Alvarado said.

The opener drew a crowd of 8,934.

Alvarado won two races, as did jockey Matt Garcia, and trainer Jeff Mullins also doubled. Garcia’s first winner, Idyllic, was a 23-1 shot in the first race.

Tiznow will be chasing a ghost as he tries to repeat as horse of the year.

The 4-year-old colt may be poised to make the kind of late run that earned him the title last year, but the difference is the huge specter of Point Given, injured and recently retired but the winner of six of seven starts, five of them Grade I stakes.

Point Given’s last four wins were all $1-million races--the Preakness, the Belmont, the Haskell and the Travers--and although horse-of-the-year voters may be acting prematurely, some of them appear to have already penciled in the name of trainer Bob Baffert’s colt.

ven Mike Cooper, the managing partner of Tiznow, admits that the odds are against his horse. Repeat winners of horse of the year are rare. When Cigar won in 1995 and ‘96, he was the first repeater since Affirmed in 1978 and ’79.

“Point Given has a lock on [horse of the year], unless Tiznow were to jump up and win three in a row,” Cooper said.

Tiznow, sidelined because of a bad back since his Santa Anita Handicap win on March 3, returns to action today against four other horses in the $500,000 Woodward at Belmont Park.

He could return to Belmont for the $1-million Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 6, followed by the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic over the same track Oct. 27.

The Woodward might be small in numbers, but it has quality in Albert The Great, Lido Palace and last year’s Preakness winner Red Bullet, whose career has been slowed by injuries.

Jay Robbins, who trains Tiznow, is just happy to have his horse ready to run again.

“Three months ago,” Robbins said, “I didn’t think he’d make it back.”