Runahalf Produces Happy Returns

The night more than two years ago, when Runahalf ran for a $10,000 claiming price, several trainers were seen tearing up their claim slips after they had seen the horse close-up in the Los Alamitos paddock.

“They saw that this horse could hardly see in his left eye,” trainer Juan G. Aleman said.

Still, Aleman thought Runahalf might be a good buy at the price, and two other trainers did too. They shake numbered pills out of a bottle when more than one trainer puts in a claim, and in an improbable scenario, winning that roll was the first step along a path that has taken Runahalf and Aleman into tonight’s $500,000 Champion of Champions. Runahalf has gone from a cheap claimer to an 8-1 longshot in the quarter horse race that frequently determines the sport’s world champion.

“I’ll be proud of this horse, no matter where he finishes,” Aleman said. “Just to be part of a race like this is exciting.”

He trains the 5-year-old gray gelding for his father, Juan R. Aleman, a spacecraft systems engineer from La Puente who was pulled into racing by his son five years ago.

A Ransom, winner of the Champion of Champions and world champion in 2000, is the 6-5 favorite as he shoots for his fifth consecutive victory in an undefeated year. Saturday’s race is the centerpiece of a rich stakes weekend at the Orange County track. Friday night’s Los Alamitos Million, at $1,313,700, is the richest race in the track’s 52-year history and the biggest purse for any breed in California this year. There are two six-figure stakes on Sunday’s card, one the $200,000 Marathon National.

A Ransom drew the No. 7 hole in the Champion of Champions. Chiarascuro drew the inside post, and outside him in the gate, in order, will be Miami Cartel, A Secret Account, Whosleavingwho, Corona Kool, Dinastia Toll, A Ransom, Streakin Sin Tacha, Runahalf and Beccas Bunny.

“To win, my horse will have to run better than he ever has,” Juan G. Aleman said. “But I think he’s capable of that.”

The 29-year-old Aleman, who took out a trainer’s license three years ago, estimates that Runahalf has only 10-15% vision in his left eye and doesn’t know what caused the injury. Through the years, some fairly accomplished thoroughbreds -- among them One-Eyed King, Cassaleria and Real Connection -- have forged stakes-winning careers, despite blindness in one eye. Real Connection, a California mare trained by Mel Stute, was bought for $55,000 by Bill Thomas and had earned $1.2 million by the time her career ended.

Runahalf, who has 10 victories, five seconds and nine thirds in 38 starts and purses of $108,207, earned his way into the Champion of Champions by winning a division of the Z. Wayne Griffin Director’s Trials on Nov. 22. After Aleman claimed him in 2000, the horse continued to run in the claiming ranks, and could have been bought out of a race, for $25,000, as recently as April.

Runahalf won an allowance race at Los Alamitos in May and ran one more time for a tag -- a pricey $100,000 in August -- before settling into stakes company. He had his biggest effort, at 46-1, in October, when he lost by a neck as A Ransom and Whosleavingwho ran one-two in the Los Alamitos Championship, which at 440 yards is the same distance as tonight’s race.

“The first time I saw him, after he shipped in here from Texas, I liked the way he ran,” Aleman said. “He’s gotten better with age. I’ve put a lot of work into him, because he’s not the easiest horse to train. In fact, he can be a real pain to be around.”

Runahalf can see well enough to keep his handlers wide-eyed at the barn.

“There’s no getting around it, he’s a mean horse,” Aleman said. “He’s gotten me a couple of times. One time, he smashed me up against the wall in his stall.”

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First Place Queen, one of five 2-year-olds saddled by trainer John Bassett, upset favored Meteoric to win the Los Alamitos Million.

Owned by Micah Leslie and the Newcomb Cattle Company, the daughter of First Place Queen and 9-1 longshot broke quickly under jockey G. R. Carter and won by about a half-length in 19.73 seconds for the 400 yards.

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Bob Mieszerski contributed to this report.