LOS ALAMITOS : Schvaneveldt Outdoes Even Himself With 4 Stakes Victories in a Night

Even for Blane Schvaneveldt, quarter horse racing’s all-time leading trainer, four stakes victories on last Saturday’s card at Los Alamitos was a little difficult to comprehend.

He saddled 20 horses on Saturday’s 12-race program and won six races, including three of the eight Quarter Horse Breeders Classics Championship races and the $243,000 Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Assn. Breeders Futurity.

The three Breeders Classics winners were all horses that Schvaneveldt had acquired in the last few weeks or months, and Deeachick, the Futurity winner, was claimed on Oct. 16 for $6,250. With Schvaneveldt as owner and trainer, the 2-year-old filly earned the 57-year-old Idaho native $104,850 by winning in 17.81 seconds.

“I can’t believe it,” he said after Deeachick’s win.” (The Breeders Classics are) what I shoot for. These horses were all fresh and in good condition.”

He swept both divisions of the Sophomore Clasic--the fillies division with Shiny Six and the colts and geldings division with Frisco Flare 24 minutes later. Then he was back in the winners’ circle to greet jockey Kip Didericksen again after Bills Ryon took the Juvenile Classic. Didericksen also rode the Sophomore winners.

“We thought we had a good shot at five or six races tonight,” said Schvaneveldt, whose starters have earned nearly $34 million in his training career.

Schvaneveldt’s night overshadowed that of trainer Daryn Charlton, who won two Breeders Classics races with Griswold and Apprehend. Both are owned by the Legacy Ranch of Chino and made convincing pitches for year-end honors.

Griswold, a 5-year-old full-brother to Apprehend, ran the third-fastest 870 yards in history while winning the Breeders Marathon Classic in 44.13 seconds. The two faster 870 clockings were also by Griswold last winter.

Apprehend won the $183,250 Breeders Championship Classic--the richest race ever in the series. The victory marked the third major stakes success of the year for Apprehend, who previously took the Horsemen’s Quarter Horse Racing Assn. Championship in February and the Los Alamitos Championship last month.

He will start next in the Dec. 21 Champion of Champions, the most prestigious race for older quarter horses in the nation, and could clinch the world champion title by winning.

“This is a great feeling,” said Pete Parrella, who is a partner with Jerry Moreland in the Legacy Ranch. “I wasn’t sure Apprehend had won. About 100 yards from the wire, he accelerated. He’s just a hell of a horse.”

“He’s the best horse in the nation going 440 yards,” said Parrella. “The Champion of Champions is very important. If he ran well, but still ran second or third, I think they’d still have to consider him (for world champion). I don’t think you’re going to get any tougher horses.”

The 28-year-old Charlton called it the biggest night of his training career. The Utah native may have three champions in his barn this year if the voters--the American Quarter Horse Assn.’s Racing Committee--choose Jazzing Hi as champion aged stallion.

“The world championship is what dreams are made of,” said Charlton, who in 1990 guided Apprehend to the 3-year-old gelding title and Jazzing Hi to the champion aged stallion title. “I’m just lucky enough to have a couple of nice horses. My goal is to run first and second in the Champion of Champions.”

Griswold broke a four-race losing streak dating back to his world record clocking of 43.99 seconds in the 870-yard Bull Rastus Invitational last February. He was then beaten by a neck in an exciting four-furlong match race at Santa Anita against Valiant Pete in April, but was never better than third in three subsequent starts against quarter horses. Parrella took him to the sidelines and had the gelding thoroughly checked, eventually finding a minor hoof problem.

“I told Daryn I want him back to his old form or we’ll retire him,” said Parrella, “but I knew if we were going to run, he was going to run back to his old form.”

Parrella said Griswold will make his next start on Dec. 20 in the Marathon Invitational, a $100,000 race that is the richest 870-yard event in the world. After that, Parrella wouldn’t mind asking for a rematch against Valiant Pete, who ran fifth last Saturday in the California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in the thoroughbred’s first start since the match race.

“I think if everything goes right in the Marathon, I think he’ll break his own record,” Parrella said. “Then, I’d like to take another shot at Valiant Pete. This time maybe we could go 870”

One horse that Apprehend will definitely face in the Champion of Champions is Takin On The Cash, the nation’s leading 3-year-old colt, who beat older horses for the second time in his career Saturday night in the Breeders Sprint Classic.

Trainer Caesar Dominguez used the 350-yard, $38,500 race as a workout for the Southern California Derby Trials next Wednesday night. The finals for the $200,000 (estimated) race are set for Nov. 29. Dominguez had the option of running Takin On the Cash in the Championship Classic at 440 yards or in the Sprint Classic, but opted for the shorter, and easier, race.

“The reason I did it is because I knew I had to run him 440 in the Southern California Derby (trials and finals) and in the Champion of Champions,” Dominguez said. “That would have been four 440s in six weeks.”