LOS ALAMITOS : Two Young Drivers Are Moving Up

The youth movement of the Los Alamitos driver colony can fit comfortably in a sub-compact car.

Both Todd Ratchford, 27, and Eddie Hensley, 24, have driven at Los Alamitos in the last few years and are starting to make an impact among a group mostly dominated by older men. Hensley ranks fourth in the standings behind Joe Anderson, Ross Croghan and Rick Kuebler with 60 victories. Ratchford is seventh with 44, ahead of veterans Marc Aubin, Gene Vallandingham and Rick Plano.

Ratchford and Hensely are the only men in the top 10 under 35, and both come from families with harness racing backgrounds. Hensley’s grandfather, Jim Todd, is a driver-trainer at Los Alamitos and Ratchford’s father, Gus, and uncle, Don, are trainers. Don, who is based at Los Alamitos and occasionally drives himself, often employs the younger Ratchford as a driver.

Both Ratchford and Hensley started racing at a young age. Hensley left high school at 16, knowing he would work in racing. Ratchford began working at the track during the summers when he was 16, but didn’t become fully involved until he graduated from high school. Initially, Ratchford wasn’t interested in racing, but instead preferred hockey and baseball in his native Nova Scotia. When one of his father’s grooms walked off the job at Sackville Downs, where the family horses were stabled, Gus turned to Todd. “He had three or four horses in that night,” Todd recalled. “I was basically thrown into it. I was the last one (in the family to become involved in the sport). Nobody wanted me to do it.”

Making ends meet on the Nova Scotia harness circuit in the late ‘70s was so difficult that in 1979 the Ratchford clan relocated to Southern California, where Gus became second trainer to Roger Stein. Todd spent his free time at the course learning the sport. He passed the required drivers’ test, needed to drive in qualifying races, in 1982, and drove his first pari-mutuel races in 1983 at the age of 19.

He drove part-time until 1989, the year his number of winning drives improved from 14 to 1988 to 42. “The last few years, I’ve seemed to come into my own, said Ratchford, who in 1990 had 64 winning drives. “Things are getting a lot better. You drive the better horses, you make the right moves and you just have to practice. I think I get a little more respect (from the other drivers).”

Hensley began his driving career at 20, the end of the 1986 season, after serving as a groom for his grandfather. “Everything I can think of, he taught me,” said Hensley. “Things he does, I do the same way; and you don’t even realize you do it.”

In 1987, his first full year driving, he had 42 victories from 319 races. Last year, he set a personal mark of 85, mostly with trainer Jim Jerez, with whom Hensley once worked as a second trainer.

“I still haven’t fulfilled my goals,” he said. “First, I wanted to win a stakes. Then, I wanted to win 50 races in a meet. Now, I’m greedy. I want a hundred. I’ve been driving a lot and these are the best horses I’ve ever driven.”

Both Ratchford and Hensley mention the pressure that accompanies the role of a young harness driver, and the difficulties in persuading trainers to try a younger driver as opposed to a veteran. For example, leading driver Anderson is 40 while Croghan and Kuebler are both 37.

“There’s more pressure because we have to prove ourselves,” said Hensley. “If Joe (Anderson) doesn’t do well, it’s the horse’s fault. (If Todd and I) don’t do well, it’s our fault.”

Perez, 24, who keeps Hensley busy driving his 25-horse stable, feels the lack of West Coast harness tracks hurts the chances of young drivers. “Back East, there’s big tracks and smaller tracks, and the younger guys can go the small tracks. Here, you’ve got Anderson, Plano, Croghan and Kuebler. You don’t notice the young guys.”

Ratchford says the pressure on a young driver, often from other drivers, can be discouraging and might be one of the reasons there is not an abundance of young men and women searching for a drive.

“(In the beginning) you get intimidated a lot on the track,” he said. “It just takes time. I never drove any of the good ones (when I was starting). I always drove the half-junky ones. The more you drive, the more people see you. You begin to feel like one of the guys.”

The horse stock is definitely improving for both gentlemen, who also have begun training small stables. Ratchford includes Invitational Handicap trotter Alfa Star under his shedrow, and Hensley has an eight-horse stable, including the filly Invitational Handicap pacer Ebony Glo. Still, they both must rely on other trainers for a majority of their drives. Hensley and Perez have formed a successful team, and Ratchford has linked with leading trainer Paul Blumenfeld, his uncle Don and Gary Siedelman.

“It’s fun that Eddie and I are in the top 10,” said Ratchford. “For years and years, it was the same guys. It makes me feel like I’ve done something because some of these guys have been driving three times as long as Eddie and I.”

Ratchford is the regular driver of Heavy Tipper, a stakes-winner at the meeting, and the horse Ratchford refers to as “the best I’ve ever driven, by far.” When the Los Alamitos meeting in July, Ratchford is sending his stable to the Meadows in Pennsylvania.

Hensley and Perez are planning on going to Garden State Park in New Jersey in August. Hensley, who grew up in Santa Ana and Riverside, feels he and Ratchford are not far away from giving a serious run at the top of the standings. “Each year, we get closer and closer, and maybe 10 years down the road we will be the top drivers. I hope.”

La Luna, one of four maidens in the 10-horse California Breeders Stakes final for 3-year-old trotting fillies, won last Wednesday’s stakes race via disqualification. The filly, sired by Sacramento, is trained by Pete Foley, who has lost two young horses to injury this year.

Foley trained Red Star Tigress and Winning Reason earlier this year, but both had to be sent to the sidelines with injury. Foley’s season has not been a complete washout. He trains Magic Moose, the star of the Invitational Handicap trotters, who should be a the favorite in tonight’s Invitational Handicap; and Perede, who has won a filly and mare Invitational Handicap for pacers.

La Luna was winless in 17 starts before last weeks’ race, but had been close in recent races. “I expect her to be first or second in every start (from now on),” said Foley, 42. “Her last three races have been really good.”

La Luna does have the distinction of handing Exclusive Miss her first loss after a six-race winning streak. Foley plans to keep La Luna in the California Stakes programs for the remainder of the meet. Arlene T finished first in the stakes, but was placed second behind LaLuna for interference in the stretch.

Los Alamitos Notes

The first 2-year-old races were Saturday, and in both cases, the 2-year-olds beat older horses. You Better You Bet, the only 2-year-old in a 12-horse field of older California-bred maidens, paced in the mile in 2:01 4/5. In Saturday’s 13th race, Shiney Key beat a field of 3- and 4-year-olds in a conditioned race. Shiney Key, driven by Ross Croghan, was sent off as the 2-5 favorite on the basis of his nine-length victory in a qualifying race May 18. The time for the pace was 1:58 2/5, the fastest 2-year-old winner on a five-eighths-mile race track this year.