LOS ALAMITOS : Magic Moose Improving With Age

At an age when most horses are slowing down, 7-year-old trotter Magic Moose is improving. The gelding has won eight of 14 starts this year, including five of his last six.

In his most recent start a week ago, Magic Moose raced on the outside of Mount Cargill for the last three-quarters of a mile and still pulled away in the stretch for a half-length victory. Sent off as the even-money favorite--$109 more was bet on Magic Moose than Mount Cargill--Magic Moose scored his third consecutive victory for owner Winn Schwyhart of Oakland, trainer Pete Foley and driver Jack Parker.

The success has come as no surprise to Foley, 42, a native of Australia.

“When he decides its race time, he comes home strong,” said Foley, who is ninth in the trainer’s standings.

The gelding, who has earned $163,258, began the year with a three-race winning streak followed by five losses. In his only setback in the last two months, however, he lost by a nose to Fames Star on April 30.

The problem now facing Foley is getting Magic Moose into a race. Invitational handicaps for trotters were run only twice in May and only one has been run in June.

“He’ll train himself,” Foley said. “You’re obviously not as tight (as a horse could be with more races), but my wife (Lynne) jogs and trains him and she knows him to a T.”

Against Mount Cargill, a new edition to the powerful Joe Anderson stable, Magic Moose faced his toughest test. He came from behind the first time past the grandstand and was third halfway through the race. His time of 1:58 1/5 was impressive considering he ran much of the race on the outside.

“This horse likes to be outside,” said Jack Parker Jr., who has driven the gelding since April. “He knows what he’s out there for and he just gives his all every week.”

Foley has big plans for Magic Moose, who last October trotted the fastest mile ever at Los Alamitos, 1:56 4/5. Magic Moose is being pointed toward the $250,000 Maple Leaf Trot at Greenwood Raceway near Toronto on Aug. 17 and the $100,000 American-National Stake at Sportsman’s Park near Chicago Sept. 26.

Bag A Few, a 3-year-old pacing filly, and Mad Milton, the reigning king of the 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings, also extended their winning streaks last week.

Bag A Few won her sixth consecutive race and her 12th of 14 in 1991 Friday in a $25,000 California Sires Stakes for fillies. She is trained and driven by Jim Grundy, and is owned by Chris Bardis of Sacramento.

Grundy said the filly would probably start against the Not Posted Invitational class before the meeting closes July 27. The Not Posted division is one notch below the Invitational Handicap horses in class. The filly will then be turned out until harness racing resumes at Los Alamitos in February.

“She’ll make a nice mare for us next year,” he said. “Knock on wood. She’s never had any problems.”

Two In A Teepee, the 2-year-old filly pacer of last year’s summer-fall meeting, won the other $25,000 3-year-old filly stake Friday. She is trained by Jim Perez and owned by his parents, Andrew and Victoria, of Diamond Bar. Two In A Teepee won six of eight starts last year, but has chased Bag A Few throughout this meeting.

Mad Milton’s winning streak stands at four. He won the $25,000 California Sires Stakes final for 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters June 12 and has won six of his eight races this year. He is clearly at the top of the division, having beaten leading contender Mighty Trouble easily in his last three starts.

“This horse just has incredible speed,” said winning driver Joe Anderson, the meeting’s leading driver.

“He seems to be getting better with every start,” said John Walker, Mad Milton’s trainer and co-owner.

The gelding will race tonight in the first of two divisions of the California Sires Stakes for trotters against Mighty Trouble and Precious Cargo.

Quarter horse jockey Lute Proctor, who died in a spill at Bay Meadows in San Mateo last Saturday, was one of the rising stars of that sport.

Proctor, who was 22, rode both quarter horses and thoroughbreds and was the leading rider last year on the Northern California fair circuit. Last spring, he rode at Remington Park in Oklahoma City and had nine victories in 78 mounts during the spring thoroughbred meet.

In 1988, at 19, he won the Bay Meadows Futurity with Rhythm and Ruffles. In 1989, he rode Hilco Scamper, a thoroughbred, to several stakes victories at Los Alamitos. The gelding was trained by his mother, Carol, and specialized in 870-yard races. He also won the 1989 Vessels Maturity with the longshot Games Up Gary.

Last year, Proctor ranked 13th nationally with 88 victories, the best percentage among the top 15 riders. His mounts earned $536,515, 15th best in the nation.

Los Alamitos Notes

Shiney Key, a 2-year-old pacer who beat older horses in his first two local starts, won the $26,334 W.N. Reynolds Memorial Pace at Raceway Park in Toledo, Ohio, Saturday. He paced the mile in 1:58 3/5 and beat five other pacers by three-quarters of a length. He paid $2.20 to win for Los Alamitos-based driver Marc Aubin and trainer Tim Diliberto.

Shiney Key, by Abercrombie, is owned by Michael Schwartz, Don Gressman and the Colross Racing Stable. Second went to Skytel, a Nihilator colt owned by Richard Staley of La Jolla. Schwartz said that Shiney Key’s next start would be the Hopeful Eliminations June 23 at Buffalo Raceway. The $200,000 Hopeful final is set for June 30.

Racing shifts to a Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule starting tonight. Post time for the first race will be 7:30 p.m., 1:45 p.m. on Sundays. Track officials are hoping that Sunday racing will attract fans who might not attend night racing. . . . Friday night’s handle of $776,393 was the smallest Friday handle of the meet. It also was the first of six consecutive Friday nights of thoroughbred racing at Hollywood Park that will put the two tracks in direct competition for fans.

The Mad Milton-Mighty Trouble exacta paid $3.40 last Wednesday, the smallest exacta payoff of the meeting. . . . Quarter horse owner Joe Kirk Fulton of Lubbock, Tex., is sending a string of his older horses to the Los Alamitos quarter horse meeting that begins in late August. . . . There is a pick-six carry-over of $4,220.66 for tonight’s card.

Thursday’s card is highlighted by three stakes, all California Sires Stakes races. The second race is a $20,000 trot for 2-year-old fillies that has drawn a field of 11. The sixth and eighth races are $25,000 stakes for 3-year-old trotting fillies. . . . The family of Lute Proctor requests donations be made to the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, 279 South Beverly Dr., Suite 1019, Beverly Hills, Calif. 90212. Or, the Winners Foundation, P.O. Box 808, Arcadia, Calif. 91066-0808.