Childers’ Stables Produce a Rare Yearly Double

Spencer Childers has been racing horses for 50 years. It takes hard work and a lot of luck, he insists, just to breed a single winner.

That’s why the 85-year-old Fresno-based rancher is at a loss to explain how he has two of the most talked about 3-year-old quarter horses at Los Alamitos Race Course this meeting.

In last week’s trials for the Aug. 22 Governor’s Cup, the bay gelding Luva Secret posted the best time of 23 horses. Uncas, another gelding from Childers’ stables, turned in the second-best time.

Luva Secret has finished first or second in 12 of its 15 races and has won the California Sire Derby, Golden State Derby and last year’s Golden State Futurity.

Uncas was selected champion 2-year-old in 1996 by the American Quarter Horse Assn. and most recently was nipped at the finish line of the Independence Day Handicap by Special Mongoose. In the Cup trials, Uncas beat Special Mongoose by a neck.

“To do this twice in one year, I guess I am just doubly lucky,” Childers said.

Trainer Bob Gilbert deserves much of the praise according to Childers.

“He’s particularly successful in getting horses up for big races,” Childers said. “He’s an experienced old hand.”

Luva Secret is being ridden by Jim Lewis. Uncas is being ridden by G.R. Carter.

“Luva Secret is in a zone right now and I’m just along for the ride,” Lewis said. “He’s way better than he was last season and I think he’s going to continue to get better.”

Gilbert said he has been pleased with Uncas, who fizzled at the end of last year.

“That was by far Uncas’ best race of the year,” Gilbert said about the Cup trials. “He really looked like the Uncas of 1996.”

As for Childers, he spent some time playing golf at a course near his ranch earlier this week. There’s that fishing trip to Wyoming this weekend and then another one in Alaska at the end of the month.

But retire from horse racing?

“I seem to be doing pretty well at it,” he said. “I’ve had a few good years racing, but nothing like the last two.”

*

On the heels of its best nightly handle, the race course has announced that purses have been raised an average of 7%.

It was the second purse hike this meet, raising the average allowance between $100 and $500 a race. Levels for 3-year-olds will top out at $500, for instance, while races for older horses stand to add $300 to each purse.

Los Alamitos has the highest purse allowances in the nation, with the top payout being $10,800.

The announcement, which took effect Thursday, follows the record $1,625,876 handle on Aug. 1. Much of the increase was attributed to satellite wagering.

*

The owners of Corona Cash, who paid a $50,000 late fee to enter the 2-year-old filly into Thursday’s trials to the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs, chose to fly her to the New Mexico track. They will most likely do the same when she returns to Los Alamitos.

It’s not unusual for special horses (Corona Cash was coming off an impressive victory in the Ed Burke Memorial Futurity and the Grade 1 Governor’s Cup, both at Los Alamitos) to receive special treatment. But trainer Donna McArthur of Jaramar Ltd. told the Quarter Racing Journal Extra that it was necessary to ship the horse through the air rather than in a horse trailer to keep her calm.

“She hauls really bad, so sending her by plane is a better option for her,” McArthur said.

Corona Cash won her heat, qualifying for the Sept. 1 All-American Futurity, covering 440 yards in 21.635 seconds, the fifth-fastest time. She’s currently the nation’s top-ranked quarter horse.

*

A total of 181 horses were sold at the fifth Vessels/Schvaneveldt Stallion sale Aug. 5 at the Vessels Stallion Farm in Bonsall. The sale brought in $2.978 million, a 16% increase over 1996. Quarter horses sold for an average of $16,453. A total of 31 horses were purchased by satellite bidders.

The top seller was Count Corona, a full brother to Corona Cash, who went for $230,000 to the Double Bar S Ranch. It was the highest price ever paid for a quarter horse in California. Catch the Dash went for $165,000 to Jaramar Ltd., which is run by the McArthur family. Jaramar Ltd. purchased Corona Cash for $170,000 in 1996.

Trainer Blane Schvaneveldt put 74 horses on the auction block and was pleased.

“It was a real good sale,” he said. “We had some quality horses and quality brings people out.”

The Vessels family, former owners of Los Alamitos Race Course, put 47 horses up for sale.

Los Alamitos Notes

The All-American Futurity from Ruidoso Downs will be shown live on ESPN2 at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 1 as part of half-hour program sponsored by The Quarter Racing Journal, a publication of the American Quarter Horse Assn. . . . Winalota Cash, winner of the Go Man Go Handicap, took in $55,100 for that victory and moved into third place on the all-time quarter horse money list with $1,853,170 in career earnings. Refrigerator, which ran from 1990-95, earned more than $2.1 million in its career, followed by Eastex, which earned nearly $1.9 million from 1984-87. Refrigerator recorded 22 wins in 36 starts, Eastex had 13 wins in 31 starts and Winalota Cash, which makes its next start Oct. 10 in the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship, has 17 victories in 26 starts.