Track Officials Don’t Expect Scandal Fallout

Despite last week’s guilty plea to race fixing by jockey Richard Pfau in a federal court in Los Angeles, don’t expect too many changes in operations at Los Alamitos Race Course.

Pfau, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of fixing a 1995 Arabian horse race at the track after receiving a $2,100 bribe from self-described professional gambler Richard Sklar. Sklar pleaded guilty earlier this year to a similar charge.

There’s always the chance the race-fixing pleas will cast a bad light on the track, racing officials have said. Nevertheless, Los Alamitos General Manager Rick Henson and others don’t foresee any problems.

“I’m sorry it happened and I’m very thankful he was caught,” Henson said. “But it’s business as usual.

“It’s just too bad, but this is not the first time in this sport, or in other sports, where you get a bad apple. All you can do is police your game and keep your integrity above board and try the best you can to see that this thing won’t happen again.”

Feelings around the barns are about the same.

“Naturally, everybody hates to see something like this happen,” said long-time trainer Bruce Hawkinson. “But it will probably blow over and come to an end. Anything like this can happen.”

Henson called the race-fixing event an isolated incident and said the likelihood of it happening on a large scale are slim.

“You have to realize that we are already the most policed sports going today,” he said. “The California Horse Racing Board has as many as five investigators working at the track. And we have a security force of 30 not only to protect the safety of the public, but also to protect our integrity.”

Pfau could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and fined $250,000 when he returns to court Oct. 20.

On Wednesday the state racing board suspended Pfau’s jockey license and denied him access to any track under its jurisdiction. Henson says that’s additional proof the industry is serious about protecting its integrity.

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A record 211 horses will be auctioned at the annual Vessels/Schvaneveldt sale Tuesday at the Vessels Stallion Farm in the San Luis Rey Downs resort in Bonsall, in northern San Diego County.

Horses will be previewed at 9 a.m. and the sale begins at 11 a.m. It is not open to the public; however, the sale can be viewed via satellite on the G-6 transponder II.

Last year’s event drew about 1,200 ranchers and horsemen and brought in nearly $3 million.

Frank “Scoop” Vessels III, grandson of Los Alamitos Race Course founder Frank Vessels, will conduct the sale in conjunction with trainer Blane Schvaneveldt, the all-time leading trainer at Los Alamitos with 39 meet titles.

Vessels halted the family breeding business at Los Alamitos in the early 1980s and moved it to San Luis Rey Downs in 1985. The first sale was five years ago.

Previous events have been successful thanks to painstaking breeding approaches used by the Vessels dating to their first days at Los Alamitos, according to experts. First Down Dash, for instance, was syndicated in 1994 for $7 million and her colts have returned more than $14 million in earnings thus far. First Down Dash has sired 19 major stakes winners, including 1996 world champion Dashing Folly.

A top yearling on the block this season is Rush For Glory, who was sired by First Down Dash.

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Several stakes races are on tap Saturday:

* The winner of Saturday’s $33,000 California Juvenile Challenge race advances to the $100,000 American Quarter Horse Assn. Juvenile Challenge Championship on Nov. 1. Mrstrawflytoyou, which finished a disappointing sixth in the Governor’s Cup after stumbling out of the gate, is expected to go off as the favorite.

* The $25,000 California Derby for Arabian horses will test the track at a mile and an eighth. RD Zell, a chestnut gelding, has won six of its last seven starts and is favored.

* Recent allowance winner Sammies First and stakes runner-up Tomarrows Rain are expected to go head to head in the $25,000 California Oaks for distaffers.

Notes

When 1995 World Champion Winalota Cash beat Dashing Folly last week in the $110,200 Go Man Go Handicap, it marked the 300th career stakes win for trainer Blane Schvaneveldt. It was the first loss in 11 stakes races for Dashing Folly, the reigning World Champion. . . . Jockey Joe Badilla Jr. has been hot lately. He leads all riders with 343 victories and has finished in the money 55.1% of the time with earnings nearing the $500,000 mark this meet.