HOLLYWOOD PARK : Four Stakes Wins Don’t Dispel Pain

Few trainers can win four stakes races in one night and come away with a feeling of missed opportunities.

Blane Schvaneveldt won three of the seven Breeders Classics races at Hollywood Park on Saturday night--the Distaff Classic with Ima Ladys Alibi, the Juvenile Classic with Short Dash and the Championship Classic with Bills Ryon, equaling his victories in last year’s Classics. He also won the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Assn. Futurity with Smooth Movin Gal.

In the six runnings of the Breeders Classic series, Schvaneveldt has won 13 races. Russell Harris, who saddled Abadasher to victory in Saturday’s Freshman Classic, is second in the trainer standings with four.

But Refrigerator, who Schvaneveldt said was his best chance for victory on Saturday, never got a chance to race. The 4-year-old gelding, who is undefeated in three starts this year and the favorite to be voted World Champion, flipped in the gate seconds before the start of the Championship Classic and was scratched.

“(Jockey) Kip (Didericksen) said it was a freak thing,� Schvaneveldt said. “I think I had him the best I’ve had him. You have to take the good with bad and hope to regroup.�

Bills Ryon, who finished second to Refrigerator in the Los Alamitos Championship last July, scored a half-length victory in the 440-yard race and earned a berth for the $250,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos in December.

Refrigerator’s withdrawal ended a dreadful evening for his owner, Jim Helzer of Arlington, Tex. Helzer was in the paddock watching Leaving Memories being saddled for the Sophomore Classic. Leaving Memories reared, flipped over and landed on Helzer’s right side.

Helzer insisted on staying in the track’s first aid office until he saw Refrigerator’s race and was then taken to Centinela Hospital, where he was found to have a broken pelvis.

“I didn’t think so many things could go wrong in one night,� he said Sunday night. “I think I was more hurt that Refrigerator didn’t run. That really smarts.�

Refrigerator, who won the 1990 All American Futurity, is quarter horse racing’s leading active money-earner at $1,454,622. He probably won’t race until the Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos, Schvaneveldt said.

“We had a big night, but we had some bad luck,� Schvaneveldt said. “Like Jim said, (being scratched) goes with the game. We’re pretty lucky to get out with the horse. Jim’s the one I’m worried about.�

Helzer is expected to spend a few days in the hospital before returning to Texas.

Bills Ryon, who is owned by Bobby Cox of Midland, Tex., and Frances McKibbin of Gainesville, Fla., has been among the leading horses of his generation for the past two years. Last year, he won the Breeders Juvenile Classic at Los Alamitos, and this year he won the Bobby Doyle Handicap in June.

The delay caused by Refrigerator didn’t affect Bills Ryon, who stayed calm in the gate. He led throughout the 440-yard race, winning by half a length in 21.55 seconds, breaking Such An Easy Effort’s 1987 track record.

“He left there like a shot,� said winning rider Bruce Pilkenton. “I had a half a length or three-quarters on the field immediately. They’d make a run after him, and I’d hit him once and that’s as close as they got to him.�

Bills Ryon’s victory moves him to the top of a list of colts vying for championship honors. A good winter meeting at Los Alamitos could give Bills Ryon the 3-year-old championship. Corona Chick, another leading contender, won the Governor’s Cup Derby, but is on the sidelines until April because of a tendon injury.

“I was really discouraged because Refrigerator was out,� Cox said. “Even if you do win, you don’t want to win that way. (The Champion of Champions) was the plan at the beginning of the year, and it’s worked so far.�

Pilkenton also won the Sprint Classic with Jazzing Hi, who was returning from a nine-month layoff that included a season at stud in Fresno. He will be pointed to the Los Alamitos winter meeting.

Other stakes winners on Saturday included Ima Layds Alibi in the Distaff Classic, Short Dash in the Juvenile Classic, Rare Form in the Sophomore Classic, Little Doc Mason in the Marathon Classic and Abadasher in the Freshman Classic.

Los Alamitos Notes

Eli Rey Beduino won the $81,000 Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Assn. Derby on Sunday. The 3-year-old filly is owned by Doug Spiers and trained by Brian Koriner. She was ridden by Jerry Yoakum and returned $81.20. . . . There is a Pick Six carryover for Thursday of $50,662.90. . . . McMellon won Sunday’s seventh race, an allowance for Arabians, setting a six-furlong track record of 1:17 2/5 for the breed.