LOS ALAMITOS : Rarely Beaten Eggwhite to Get More Races Under New Format

With nine victories in her first 10 starts, Eggwhite is the best 3-year-old trotting filly in California, but how she ranks with past trotters will be decided in the coming months.

Eggwhite began her career last summer at Sacramento with a stakes record--2:02 4/5--for 2-year-old trotting fillies in her first start. She won her first seven races, all stakes, at Sacramento and Los Alamitos, before losing a stakes by a nose at Los Alamitos in October. However, she returned two weeks later, beating the same horses by 1 3/4 lengths and ending the year with eight stakes victories and earnings of $53,150.

She was an easy winner in her only start this year--a $10,000 California Breeders Stakes final on Jan. 28. As she did in most of her 1992 races, Eggwhite took the lead shortly after the start and drew away from the field, winning by seven lengths--her largest winning margin since a 16-length victory at Los Alamitos in September.

In 10 starts, Eggwhite has never gone off-stride--a remarkable achievement for any trotter.

Her final times, however, have not been as spectacular as her winning record. Since arriving at Los Alamitos in August, she has never trotted a mile faster than 2:04. Co-owner Jim Bagatelos and driver-trainer Frank Sherren say that faster races will come as the filly matures.

“The only time I pushed her she set the track record at Sacramento,” Sherren said. “She can go plenty fast. The idea is to keep her out of trouble and let her win. The (faster times) will come in a month or so. They’ll even go faster this week.”

Eggwhite’s time of 2:04 at Los Alamitos last year was well off the track record for 2-year-old fillies of 2:01 4/5 run in 1989 by both Gist and Divine Spirit. In addition, her time of 2:08 last month was 10 seconds slower than the 3-year-old filly record of 1:58 2/5 set by Capuchine.

Her times will automatically drop a few seconds after a banked turn is constructed on Feb. 15. The turn, which was used at the last couple of harness meetings, has not been built because of recent rains.

Therefore, Sherren doesn’t expect a track record Thursday night when the 3-year-old trotting fillies are reunited in the first leg of the California Sires Stakes. The sires stakes, which last throughout the meeting, have a new format this year: two qualifying legs with $4,000 purses precede a $15,000 final. The new format offers 3-year-old stakes horses a chance to race against their own age, sex and ability each week instead of racing once every two weeks, as was the case last year.

“I think it will help all the horses to go every week,” Sherren said. “It’s hard to race every other week and keep them fit. She was exceptional last year and we were lucky to keep her strong all year racing every other week.”

In the past few years, the 3-year-old trotting fillies division has been competitive. Last year, Tony’s Best lived up to her name, winning 11 of 18 starts and more than $91,000.

Pert Aries, who beat Eggwhite by a nose in October, is the only other stakes winner among the current 3-year-olds. Pert Aries didn’t start in last month’s stakes races, but is entered in Thursday’s race. The other trotting fillies have had trouble staying on stride for a mile.

Sherren will drive Eggwhite Thursday even though she drew the tough No. 8 post position. He also trains David Dreamer, David’s Starbourne and David’s Sugar, who are owned by Suzanne Broughten. Bubbette, Royal Return, Lindas Winner, Nacimiento and Heated Debate are also entered.

“I don’t think we’ve seen a trotting filly dominate like (Eggwhite) has,” Sherren said. “No one has dominated like her in recent years. You’d have to go way back to when they’re weren’t that many (Cal-bred trotters).”

Sherren has 10 horses in training, mostly young ones pointing for the sires stakes. One exception is 4-year-old trotter David’s Storm, who won an invitational trot last month and was one of the top 3-year-old trotting colts last year. Eggwhite, who was bred by Bagatelos and his wife, Virginia, at their Dixon, Calif., farm, is co-owned by Frank’s parents, Jack and Ann.

Bagatelos also bred Googie, a full-brother to Eggwhite, who earned $277,963 and as a 4-year-old went as fast at 1:56 3/5.

“(Eggwhite) is just an exceptional filly,” Bagatelos said. “She’s one of those horses that comes around once in a lifetime. We’d like to see her race at 4 and maybe we’ll take her back East. We might even get an offer from the Germans and Italians. I think she could be one of the best trotters to come out of California.”

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Paul Reddam can look on and off track for positive signs.

Reddam, of Newport Beach, and partner Perry De Luna are leasing Los Alamitos for harness racing this spring and have completed the first three weeks of the meeting with higher-than-expected figures. The average mutuel handle for the first 10 nights is $810,330, considerably higher than last fall’s average, but still below a corresponding meeting a year ago. The purses for the spring meeting were based on an average handle of $750,000.

“That’s right about what we thought the handle will be and I think the average handle will go up,” Reddam said. “We have to remember that the quarter horses had a great meeting.

The backstretch is adding horses, which are needed to fill programs. The track recently simulcast two races a night from Hawthorne, near Chicago, to complete a program. Reddam said the simulcast races will probably be eliminated in two or three weeks, but the decision will be based on how the entries fill at Los Alamitos. Wednesday’s program has 11 races with no simulcasts, while Thursday’s program has two simulcasts among 11 races.

“The horse population is growing a little. We’re getting some from Canada this week. It’s not where we want it be, but it’s tolerable.”

Reddam also hopes to reduce the time between races to 17 minutes, which has been accomplished only part of the time during the first three weeks.

His racing stable, which is housed with driver-trainer Rick Plano, is also on a hot streak. Two of his leading pacers, Nightly Night and Camaraderie, won the filly and mare invitational and invitational handicap on Friday and Saturday.

Nightly Night, a 4-year-old filly, has earned more than $125,000 during her three-year career, including more than $78,000 last year when she was voted the leading 3-year-old pacing filly on the circuit. Last fall, her owners, who also include Nick Kareotes of Huntington Beach, considered retiring Nightly Night to the breeding shed, but Reddam wanted to see her back on the track after she overcame a bout of soreness.

“I told Rick, ‘We need racehorses,’ ” Reddam said. “She got better at the end of the meet last year and she had a perfect trip on Friday. That’s the first time she’s won the (invitational).”

Camaraderie, a 6-year-old gelding, has won two consecutive starts, both of which have been hard-fought victories. Saturday, he raced on the outside of horses and held off Vance Win, pacing he mile in 1:56 3/5.

Los Alamitos Notes

Sires stakes will also be conducted for 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings on Thursday and 3-year-old pacers of both sexes on Friday. In the trainer’s standings, Bobby Gordon has won nine races and leads Mark Anderson by one. . . . Driver Steve Warrington has won 17, six more than Ed Hensley and Rick Plano. Driver Terry Kerr is four winners away from the 4,500th of his career.