LOS ALAMITOS : Creager Quietly Goes About His Business

In the 20 years that John Creager has been riding at Los Alamitos, everything around him has changed, with a few exceptions.

Blane Schvaneveldt is still one of the top trainers, horses still turn left in the longer races and Creager still sits patiently on his mounts, holding them straight and letting them run.

He has been criticized for sitting too quietly during a race but, as the statistics show, he gets the job done. Recording victory No. 1,800 on a recent three-win night, Creager is the third-leading jockey of all-time at Los Alamitos. Only Danny Cardoza and Kenny Hart have won more races.

“It was a lot tougher,” Creager said of his early days at Los Alamitos. “There were no young riders. Charlie Smith, Jimmy Dreyer, Ronnie Banks and Danny Cardoza were all here. They were all established riders.

“Every good horse in America was here. This was the only track running at night. It was the big apple for quarter horse racing.”

Creager, 43, began race riding in his home state of Utah. He came to Los Alamitos after leading a meeting at Centennial Racetrack in Denver and set the tone for his California career by winning with his first mount.

“Back then, each trainer only had 20 horses,” he said. “And these maiden races for 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds, there was none of that. The racing secretary was the law. He had to approve your horses. If a horse couldn’t win at 3, he’d make it go somewhere else to win before coming back.”

Creager rides an average of four horses a night. He wins 20% of the time and hits the board more than half the time. He rarely misses a morning at the track and spends a lot of time with the horses that need it.

“It’s hard to take off a day when you have horses to take care of,” he said.

Creager is the regular rider of Ah Sigh, winner of the Miss Kindergarten Futurity. Charles Bloomquist, who trains the undefeated filly, acknowledges that although it is important to try to win each race, sometimes a 2-year-old needs a little schooling.

“A lot of times 2-year-olds run in a race and they get in trouble,” Bloomquist said. “Although you always emphasize winning the race, the first one or two starts will determine how they run throughout the rest of their career. Sometimes they need to be taught a little out there. John will take care of your baby.”

Bloomquist added that Creager is one of the best for a horse that wants a rider to sit still, gather him up and let him run.

“John doesn’t override horses,” Bloomquist said. “Sometimes younger or more aggressive riders will override a horse. John thinks when he’s out there.”

A quiet man and a quiet rider, Creager has had 20 years to develop his style. He said it’s not easy to sit still, that it takes confidence in the horse and patience. And, he adds, he learned from making mistakes as much as anything else.

“The good (mounts) will give you their all,” he said. “If your horse is running all out and you start using the stick, what’s he going to think? He’ll think he’s doing something wrong and he’ll duck in or something.”

Creager is rarely criticized these days for his mounts running off course. He may still hear complaints about other things, as all jockeys do, but he quietly goes about his business, the meeting’s third-leading rider with 33 victories in 165 races.

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After witnessing a near-disastrous first effort to simulcast a race from the new Sam Houston Race Park in Texas on Saturday night, bettors at Los Alamitos welcomed the second attempt with open wallets, out-wagering the fans in Texas.

Past performances for both simulcast races were handed out on a single green sheet because Sam Houston’s scratch time was too late to make the Los Alamitos program. Adding to the problem, California bettors had only three minutes to bet the first simulcast after Los Alamitos’ third race.

Then they could not watch the horses loading into the gate when the signal was interrupted, and there was a second interruption during the race. The tote board showed less than $20,000 bet here.

For the second simulcast race, the San Jacinto Stake for Texas-bred 2-year-old fillies, the timing was better and the signal uninterrupted. Fans at Los Alamitos and its satellite outlets wagered $67,426. At Sam Houston and its satellite outlets, the number was $62,489.

Los Alamitos is scheduled to take two races from Sam Houston Park each Thursday and Saturday through the conclusion of the Texas meeting, Sept. 18.

On Sunday, Los Alamitos moved its first post time from 6:45 to 3 p.m. so it could show the simulcast of the Rainbow Derby from Ruidoso Downs in Ruidoso, N.M. A Streak Of Cash won the race and local fans wagered $145,347.

Los Alamitos Notes

Trainer Blane Schvaneveldt, whose runners scored a 1-2 finish in Friday’s Los Alamitos Derby, has a chance of repeating the feat, although for much lower stakes. Sheza First Down, who at 35-1 upset stablemate Totally Illegal in the Grade I race, earned $56,280 of the $134,000 purse. Totally Illegal picked up $22,780. . . . The AQHA Wrangler Juvenile Challenge on Friday gives Schvaneveldt another 1-2 opportunity in a stakes race. He saddled the winners of both trials, Fluent and Touchdown Dancer, but the 350-yard race carries only a $7,500-added purse.