LOS ALAMITOS : Moore, Crew Were on Fast Track

Dennis Moore went to work Sunday morning at 6:30, faced with the task of converting Los Alamitos from a harness track to a surface suitable for quarter horses and thoroughbreds. He had 36 hours to complete the job.

Moore and his six-man crew worked until 6 p.m. Monday, finishing 90 minutes before the first post time for the Orange County Fair’s 15th meeting. The crew removed the high-banked turn unique to harness racing, added 2,500 tons of sand, 600 yards of ground fir bark, rebanked the turns, and fine-tuned the straightaway to Moore’s specifications.

At 6:15, as fans began to gather in the grandstand and clubhouse, Moore’s crew was applying the last load of water. At 7:30, when the Arabian TF Morning Star won the meet’s first race, Moore finally had a chance to relax.

“Overall, everything worked well,” said Moore, who maintains seven racing surfaces nationwide. “We feel real good about it.”

For the most part, everything also went well for track officials. The track crowd was 5,879, many of them lured by free grandstand admission, and $1,152,186 was wagered, including off-track betting. The handle exceeded last year’s mark of $1,117,523.

Norb Bartosek, the general manager of the Orange County Fair, said that this could be the final year of the racing fair, but added that it was contingent on several factors, among them the passage of Senate Bill 944. The bill would allow intertrack wagering among Los Alamitos, Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Fairplex Park. Fair officials are hoping to construct an off-track betting center in Costa Mesa.

“We’ll have to wait and see what happens,” Bartosek said in reference to the bill. “I’ve got a board of directors who have to weigh the options.”

The only glitch was a 25-minute delay between the third and fourth races caused by a malfunction in the tote machines. The delay, along with a later inquiry, resulted in the 11th and final race not going off until shortly before midnight.

Excess Energy became the first stakes winner of the meeting in the $35,490 Las Palmas Handicap for fillies and mares. The 5-year-old mare, who was sent off at 14-1, was is trained by Danny Hansaker and ridden by Alfredo Guerrero. She was second on the backstretch and passed early leader and runner-up Windsong Maria in the stretch for the 1 3/4-length victory.

Excess Energy was clocked in 49 1/5 seconds for the 4 1/2 furlongs, earning her third stakes victory in the last year for owner Jack Grunwald

Jockey Adalberto Lopez, who was second in the standings at the 1990 Orange County Fair, led the jockeys with three victories in nine mounts. Lopez won aboard Jazz in the eighth race and Peppermint Plus in the 10th. In the fifth, he was placed first on a disqualification. The stewards ruled that Heisman, his mount, had been interfered with in the stretch.

“It’s always good to start strong,” said Lopez, the leading rider at Caliente. “I was lucky that (the stewards) put my number up (in the fifth race).”

Lopez said he was impressed by the track condition and that it had held together well through the evening.

At midnight, after Misted had crossed the wire as the winner in the final race, Moore and the track crew were preparing to make final adjustments for the night.

“We’ve got some grading and tightening to do and that will be about it,” he said.

The harness mutuel handle fell short of $1 million on Friday and Saturday night, but Lloyd Arnold, Los Alamitos Racing Assn. president and general manager, was nonetheless pleased with the 122-program meet, the longest in track history.

The average for the meet, including off-track, was 4,799 fans wagering $787,668. Those figures are 6% and 2.1% better than for 1990, which was divided into two shorter meets.

Saturday’s closing card drew 5,234 who wagered $966,327, and Friday’s handle was $909,749. The meet suffered from short fields, a backstretch virus that ran through the horse population, and competition from Hollywood Park and quarter horse simulcasts from Bay Meadows.

The 1992 schedule calls for spring and fall Los Alamitos harness meets, plus a summertime meeting at another location. The plans are contingent on the passage of Senate Bill 944, which would greatly boost off-track revenues.

Arnold said that the spring meet would be highlighted by the $150,000-guaranteed Shelly Goudreau pace for 3-year-olds, which is named for the driver who won three Los Alamitos driving titles in the late 1970s.

The final week of racing was highlighted by Mad Milton, who won last Wednesday’s Invitational Trot and set a track record for 3-year-olds, 1:57 4/5. It was his 10th victory in 13 starts this year and pushed his lifetime earnings to $103,446.

The quarter horse season begins Aug. 23, and the weekly racing calendar will have a slightly different look. Sunday evening racing has been added and Tuesday racing has been dropped.

The Sunday programs will begin at 6 p.m. until daylight saving time ends, then will switch to 5 p.m. post time on Oct. 27. Officials believe that the early post time will attract fans who do not like to be out late.

Los Alamitos Notes

Stakes races this weekend include the $50,000-added Walter Knott Handicap for 3-year-old fillies Friday night. The 1 1/16-mile race is restricted to horses that have not won a stake with a winner’s share of $20,000 at a mile or more this year. Haunting and Fappies Cozy Miss, who were fourth and sixth, respectively, in the Hollywood Oaks on June 23, are high-weighted at 118 pounds. Saturday’s $50,000-added Mount Harvard Handicap is a 4 1/2-furlong dash. The 122-pound high weight is Olympic Prospect, who was most recently third in an $80,000 claiming turf sprint at Hollywood Park June 15.

The California Sires Cup Derby trials for 3-year-old quarter horses are set for Friday. The final, with a $75,000-estimated purse, is scheduled Aug. 16, Tuesday’s card is highlighted by the Governor’s Cup Futurity trials for 2-year-old quarter horses. The final is closing night, Aug. 17, with an estimated purse of $150,000, the richest race of the meeting.

Awards were announced over the weekend for the harness meeting. Trotter of the meeting, 3-year-old colt or gelding, was Mad Milton. Pacer of the meeting was the 3-year-old filly Bag A Few. Other awards went to You Better You, 2-year-old colt or gelding pacer; Nighty Night, 2-year-old filly; Heavy Tipper, 3-year-old colt or gelding; Cool Charm Girl, aged mare. Vance Lobell and Mercury shared the aged horse or gelding honors.

In the trotting division, the 2-year-old colt or gelding honor went to Mariah’s Mystic. Others included War At Home, 2-year-old filly; Exclusive Miss, 3-year-old filly; Magic Moose, aged horse or gelding; and Saving Grace, aged mare. Star King was named the top claiming horse.

Wicked Willa, a 4-year-old quarter horse filly, won the $82,272 World’s Championship Quarterhorse classic at Ruidoso Downs last Saturday at Ruidoso, N.M., and is expected to race at Los Alamitos this winter. The filly earned an automatic bid to the $250,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 21 with her victory.