Remembered
with races this weekend
By Mark
Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Lloyd
Arnold and Stan Bergstein, two legendary figures
in harness racing, have races named in their honor this weekend at Cal Expo. The Lloyd Arnold Pace is set
for Saturday night and the Stan Bergstein Trot is the feature on Sunday.
Lloyd
Arnold was an owner and track operator of the highest caliber. He passed away
in 2012 at the age of 83. Originally the owner of Arnold Cattle Co. in Iowa,
Mr. Arnold raced hundreds of horses in Illinois and across the Midwest
throughout the 1960s and early 1970s.
During that
era, Mr. Arnold raced horses like Warm Breeze, who earned more than $250,000 in
two seasons of racing in the mid-1970s, and Dancing David, who earned more than
$200,000 in the 1960s. Warm Breeze took Mr. Arnold to racings pinnacle for the
first time when he set the all-age world record at over this track, then known
as Golden Bear Raceway.
His top
horses in later years included the pacing mare Sanabelle Island, who earned
$1.6 million lifetime and won 57 of 110 starts. Also of note was Bagel Beach
Boy, who won the 2001 Messenger and Matron stakes.
In August
2003, Mr. Arnold bought Chevie Duramax, who then went on to set world records
for 2-year-old pacing geldings on both mile and half-mile tracks. The fastest
3-year-old pacer in North America in 2004 belonged to Mr. Arnold as Quik Pulse Mindale won in 1:48 at Balmoral.
In addition
to being a prominent standardbred owner, Mr. Arnold operated this track during
those Golden Bear Raceway years and also bought Los Alamitos in the late 1980s,
eventually selling the track to his partner, Ed Allred.
Mr. Arnold
was inducted into the California Harness Hall of Fame in April of 2008. He also
enjoyed personal honors in 2001 when he was feted by the Delaware Sportswriters
and Broadcasters at their annual awards dinner and received the Owner of the
Year Award from the U.S. Harness Writers' Association.
Chris
Bardis said, “Harness Racing was one of Lloyd's great passions. He accomplished
so much for the sport not only in California, but nationwide. He was Mr.
Harness Racing.
“He
conducted race meetings at Cal Expo, Bay Meadows, Golden Gate Fields, Del Mar,
Pomona, Hollywood Park and Los Alamitos. I know of no one else who has had a
greater impact on the harness world.”
Sunday’s Stan Bergstein Trot is named for the legendary figure in
harness racing who passed away in 2011 at the age of 87.
Mr.
Bergstein was a harness-racing titan who advocated for cooperation between the
Standardbred and Thoroughbred industries to solve the sports' common problems.
He stepped
down in 2011 after 50 years as the executive vice president of Harness Tracks of America, the
Standardbred industry's trade association. He was immediately appointed as the
organization's first executive emeritus, and continued to advise the association
and write guest columns for the Daily Racing Form until the weeks before his
death.
The only
person to ever be inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame and its
Communicators Hall of Fame, Mr. Bergstein worked in a wide variety of roles at
racetracks, auction houses, announcer's booths, and racing publications, and he
maintained extensive collections of harness-racing books and artwork.
He was
widely respected not only in the harness industry, but also in the Thoroughbred
industry, and he served as a mentor to generations of young racing
professionals through a close association with the University of Arizona Race
Track Industry Program, located in Tucson, for the past 40 years.
Mr.
Bergstein was a forceful proponent of forging closer ties between the
Standardbred and Thoroughbred industries, most notably in tackling medication
abuse and problems with drug-testing. In dozens of commentaries, Bergstein
maintained that the Standardbred industry's problems were, or would be those of
the Thoroughbred industry, and that neglect of a problem in one sport would
damage the other.
Bergstein
borrowed from the Thoroughbred industry early in his career, incorporating
claiming races as a racing secretary while working at the Chicago tracks in the
1950's. At the time, the harness racing industry did not run claiming races,
and they are now as commonplace in Standardbred racing as they are in
Thoroughbred racing Bergstein also spearheaded the creation of Standardbred
Investigative Services, a security agency modeled on the Thoroughbred Racing
Protective Bureau.
A native of
Illinois, Bergstein attended harness races as a young man and received a
journalism degree from Northwestern University. He was the former executive
editor of Hoof Beats magazine, and the former vice
president of publicity and public relations for the United States Trotting Association.
Cal Expo
trackman/program director Marty Bridges credits Stan Bergstein with bringing
him into harness racing as a profession.
“After college
and two years in the Army, I was employed by the small business association. At
night, after work, I was a regular patron at Sportsmans Park and Maywood in
Chicago.
My
supervisor, a former sportswriter for the Chicago Daily News, knew of my
interest and called Stan to set up a meeting. Surprisingly, I was to meet him
at Du Quoin on Hambletonian Day.
“Watching
Stan call the races from a slightly elevated booth on the infield adjacent to
the finish line was thrilling and between races we talked about racing, horses,
drivers and trainers.
His
knowledge of the sport was amazing and I had never met anyone like him, and
still havent. He introduced me to John Tinsley, the program director for all
the Chicago tracks and John hired me on the spot. Its been a great ride, doing
something I love.”
Gene Vallandingham first met Stan Bergstein in 1959 when he was
working for the legendary Joe OBrien.
“
Stan came
to Joe’s farm every spring for the annual Camptown racing weekend, when all of
Shafter would be there for a day of racing. Stan was the true voice of harness
racing, he was liked by all and I miss him.”
Chris
Schick said, "Stan was foremost a kind and compassionate person. He was a
true visionary in the harness racing industry. In 1979 well before simulcasting,
he so rightly stated the future of the industry was in how well we brought the
product to the public. He was also very vocal of the industry for being
reluctant to embrace change. Our industry lost a giant when he passed.”
Lloyd Arnold Pace, Sire
Stakes hold spotlight
The $10,000 Lloyd Arnold Pace
headed by I’m An Athlete and Bettermeboy and a pair of $10,000 California Sire
Stakes for 3-year-old pacers headline the Saturday night program at Cal Expo.
First post for the Saturday
card, which is run under the banner of Watch and Wager LLC, is 6:15 with 11
races on tap. The Sire Stakes for the pacing colts goes as the third race,
while the Lloyd Arnold is the fifth event on the night and the Sire Stakes for
the pacing fillies will be decided as a non-betting contest prior to the
regular card.
I’m An Athlete will be
shooting for his fifth win from his last six starts for owner Ronald Rettig and
trainer James Kennedy. He set his 1:51 2/5 mark winning here on February 6 and
is coming off a game Open victory over a sloppy track last weekend with Luke
Plano at the controls.
Allmyx’sliventexas and
Moonstone Beach are the ones to beat in their respective stakes races. Both are
owned and were bred by Wayne and Rod Knittel, take their lessons from Bob
Johnson and will have Mooney Svendsen in the sulky.
Allmysxy’sliventexas is a son
of Hi Ho Silverheel’s out of the Distinguisedbaron mare Annie Get Your Gun who
has left little doubt in the first two stakes clashes for the sophomore pacing
males.
On both occasions, Svendsen
has sat a tracking trip to the stretch with the Knittel colorbearer and has
come home smartly to seal the deal. He established his 1:54 3/5 mark when he
prevailed in the February 13 stakes dance.
Moonstone Beach has likewise
proven to be the queen of the sophomore pacing fillies to this point. She is by
Crisis Situation out of the Beach Towel mare Bj’s Beach Fire and romped home by
nearly eighth lengths in the most recent stakes gathering two weeks ago.
