Trainer Bret Vickery has a solid set of contenders in Friday's Schvaneveldt Handicap at Los Alamitos Race Course.

Los Alamitos Race Course Photo

“Every time we would come to Los Alamitos from out of town my dad had to stop by and visit Blane,” said the 47-year-old trainer and native of Emmett, Idaho. “I got to know Blane really well; in fact almost everyone in the business from our part of the country knew and respected Blane. He was not only an icon, but anyone from our area he would go out of his way and make a special effort to treat them well. Blane would take you up to his ranch and do everything he could to make you feel at home. Blane also had a lot of success training horses that came from our part of the country. Blane will always be a special figure in the intermountain region.”

Vickery would love nothing more than to win Friday’s race at Los Alamitos named after the Quarter Horse legend – the $40,000 Blane Schvaneveldt Handicap. And he has a pretty good shot to do so, as he’ll saddle a group highlighted by Gary and Jeralyn Messenger’s Clark N Eye and Alvin B. Jonas’ Sheza Bad Habit. The Schvaneveldt Handicap is a 400-yard event in which horses are eligible to enter by making at least three starts this year in the intermountain and northwest regions. The Schvaneveldt family will present beautiful belt buckles to the winning connections following this race.

The Messenger’s Clark N Eye has enjoyed a great season in 2010. He’s won six of nine starts this season with all of those wins coming at Sandy Downs, Pocatello Downs and Dixie Downs. His wins include the Bitterroot Derby and Idaho Cup Derby. After a great campaign in Utah and Idaho, Clark N Eye arrived at Los Alamitos to run in the Sgt Pepper Handicap. He finished fifth in that race, but the effort gave him enough experience to be more prepared for night racing according to Vickery.

“He had never raced under the light before, so the (Sgt Pepper Feature) will now help him,” he said. “I’ve trained for Gary and Jeralyn for 10 years probably and I’m happy to say that they’re having an outstanding year. This horse has won two derbies, won another little stakes race and finished second in another stakes. The Messengers have a horse named Hawkinsign, who has also had an exceptional season (winning the Idaho Cup Futurity at Sandy Downs and Intermountain Futurity at Elko) plus they have another runner at Turf Paradise by the name of Iona Corona, who has won both of his 870-yard starts. Later this week, they’ll have a couple of runners in the Wild West Futurity trials including a really nice horse named Lajolla Famosa, who won two stakes at Sandy Downs.

“The Messengers will be here for these races and also for the Los Alamitos Equine Sale,” he added. “They make it an event to attend every year.”

Jonas’ Sheza Bad Habit, who has been assigned 125 pounds for this race, won the Merial Northwest Distaff Challenge earlier this year and now arrives after posting some solid races in Idaho and Nevada.

“This filly won an allowance race at Los Alamitos in February before we took her to Washington for the Merial Challenge race,” Vickery continued. “She ended up winning that race in track record time and from there we went to Idaho Falls where she set a track record in a trial to a Derby Challenge. After she ran third in that final, we took her to Elko and she set a track record in a trial to the (Elko County Championship Challenge) before running seventh in the final. (Alvin) lives in Pahrump, Nevada and he bought this filly at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale a few years ago. She did okay as a 2-year-old, but this year she’s been exceptional. (Alvin) trained for many years before retiring. He’s now built a nice breeding program and he even has a horse (Hip #192 Aspecialcarver) in the Equine Sale. I’m sure that this filly will eventually be a nice addition to his broodmare band.”

The Schvaneveldt Handicap will feature a nice group of invaders from the barns of respected intermountain and northwest trainers like Owen Udy, Monty Arrosa, Michael Monson, etc. Some horses will likely race under the name of a local trainer at Los Alamitos, but it’s important to note that it was these horsemen from “Schvaneveldt” country that helped develop these horses into a potential stakes winner at Los Alamitos.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com