LOS ALAMITOS : His Kiwi Connection Could Carry Croghan to Meeting’s Driving Title

Boosted by five victories Friday night and a stable of recently imported New Zealand-breds, Ross Croghan looms as the probable winner of the driving title during the spring harness meeting at Los Alamitos.

Croghan, of Cypress, is no stranger to success in California harness racing. He has been the top percentage driver for six of the last nine Los Alamitos meetings, losing three times to Joe Anderson.

Along with trainer Tim Diliberto, who had six winners Friday--five with Croghan and one with Marc Aubin--Croghan has spent considerable time this year conditioning a string of 30 New Zealand-breds. Croghan and Diliberto have brought them along slowly and still have 12 horses that have yet to start.

One New Zealander who adapted rather quickly is Letterkenny Lad, a 7-year-old gelding who qualified in 1:56 4/5 on Feb. 28 and made his first American start Saturday as the 1-5 favorite, winning a conditioned race in 1:58 4/5.

Croghan has big plans for Letterkenny Lad. He plans to ship the gelding to the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., for the month-long Endurance Series in April. That series, which carries an $80,000 purse for the final, has three legs, at one mile, 1 1/4 miles and 1 1/2 miles. Then the final is two miles.

Harness racing distances of more than a mile are the standard in Australia and New Zealand. American tracks are beginning to card longer races.

“He’s a real big horse with a mind of his own,” Croghan said of Letterkenny Lad. “He can get real ornery behind the gate.”

Croghan, who came to California racing from Australia in 1976, has also been impressed by the progress of recent imports Handiboy and Ella Bonny, as well as Genuine Bid, a horse who has yet to start.

“He’s a well performed horse,” Croghan said of Genuine Bid. “He has a good chance to do well at a mile. He’s about three weeks away (from starting).”

For the last month, Los Alamitos has been randomly testing horses for high amounts of sodium bicarbonate in their blood systems, using a small machine that is more commonly used at hospitals for testing human blood. The tests are conducted less than an hour before post time by medication steward Bob Latzo, who works out of a small office behind the paddock.

The tests have the ability to read a horse’s blood sample in less than a minute and can detect whether a horse has been given a so-called milkshake. Mikshakes, which supposedly give a horse a quick burst of energy, are a combination of sodium bicarbonate and water, force-fed through a tube into a horse’s stomach.

Latzo tests an average of 25 horses each night. The horses are selected randomly and a small blood sample is taken in the paddock. Latzo then immediately tests the blood.

In the last month, three horses showing excessive numbers on the tests have been scratched. “We’ve had some high ratings since we’ve had the machine,” said Lloyd Arnold, president of the Los Alamitos Racing Assn. “All of the (involved) trainers, said to then scratch. They made the decision. We’ve had super cooperation.”

Arnold said he put in the machine, which he said cost $41,000, to maintain public confidence.

“We wanted to make sure the public had a level playing field,” he said. “It makes it worthwhile to have the public knowing they can bet their money.”

Latzo is also analyzing the test results for several permitted medications. “Aside from the results, I get a list of medications to see if there’s a common denominator on a high-testing horse to try to get some answers,” said Latzo, who keeps medication records of the 400 or 500 horses he has tested in the last month. “I’ve kept records on what they were on and how they tested. Maybe there is something there.

“A lot of people said Lasix raises the level and I haven’t seen the level raise at all, and we have a lot of horses on Lasix.

“If (the tests) is a deterrent or builds public confidence, then it’s worth it,” Latzo said. “It’s been a good experiment to see how beneficial it is.”

Tonight’s program marks the 20th anniversary of harness racing at Los Alamitos. Arnold, who runs the current meeting, conducted Los Alamitos harness meetings from 1979 to 1983, sold his harness racing lease to Hollywood Park in 1984, and purchased the Los Alamitos track in 1889. In the spring of 1990, he sold 50% to Dr. Edward Allred, who is president of the Horsemen’s Quarter Horse Racing Assn., which conducts quarter horse racing.

Two drivers who won races on opening night, 1972--Steve Desomer and Jack Williams--are involved in the current meeting. Desomer and his wife, Vickie, drive and train a stable. Williams, who drove two winners on that first program, is a steward.

“Everyone was on a high that night,” Williams said. “It was a new star shining. We finally had a continuous circuit.”

Two other current stewards, Michael Corley (the starter) and Peter Tomilla (assistant racing secretary) were involved as well.

“We were going for great money back then,” Tomilla said. “Our cheapest claimers were going for $1,500 and we were short horses, so they raced twice a week. All the guys had new cars by the end of the meet.”

Los Alamitos Notes

Cool Charm Girl, who had been beaten in photo finishes for two consecutive weeks, won last Friday’s Invitational Pace for fillies and mares by a nose. It was the first victory in seven 1992 starts for the 9-year-old mare. . . . Heavy Tipper, last year’s 3-year-old colt or gelding of the meeting, won Saturday’s Invitational for his third victory in seven 1992 starts. Greg Wright’s victory in Saturday’s sixth race was the 2,900th of his career.

Magic Moose, undefeated in two starts this year, is entered in tonight’s fourth race, the $15,000 Invitational Trot. . . . There is a twin-trifecta carry-over of $83,532.16 going into tonight’s sixth race. If the carry-over exceeds $100,000, there will be a mandatory payout the next night.