North County Blade-Citizen from Solana Beach, California • 13

BladeCitizen Wednesday, July 26, 1989 Business C-3 Brian Cook C-4 Classified C-5 Del Mar looking for a record-breaking meet More San Diegans wanted at track took the heat off of us." Thus the changing in marketing from heavy marketing in Orange and Los Angeles counties to San Diego. We havent pulled out of Los Angeles, said Smith, but the money spent there was wasted. We were telling them to stay at ITW and come here to Del Mar. We learned our lesson. We want to attract the people from San Diego and we think well be stronger here.

Del Mars first post is 2 p.m. daily with racing held on a Wednesday-through-Monday basis. Tuesday is a dark day. A total of $3.57 million in stakes purses will be offered, including three Grade I races. The first Grade I test is the Eddie Read Handicap on Aug.

13. Other Grade I features are the Ramona Handicap and closing day Futurity. Del Mar will offer daily doubles on the first and second races along with a late double on the eighth and ninth. Daily triples will be offered on races three, four and five along with six, seven and eight. A Pick Six will be offered on race two through seven while $5 exactas will be offered on races three, five, seven and nine.

By Jeff Nahill Staff Writer DEL MAR The last bench has been repainted, the last shrub trimmed. For the 50th time in 52 years the thoroughbreds return to the Del Mar Racetrack for a 43-day meeting that began today and continues through Sept. 13. This will be the second year the Del Mar Throughbred Club will accept Inter-Track Wagering (ITW) from 11 outlets in Southern California. Officials expect to set records in betting pools and on-site attendance.

Last season Del Mar ranked third behind Saratoga and Santa Anita in the nation in daily average attendance with a total of 33,100, but there was an average of 15,872 at the track, a decrease of 19.4 percent. With that in mind, Del Mar is changing its marketing approach to concentrate on San Diego County. Were bullish on this season, said Dan Smith, director of media and marketing. We hope to have the best of both worlds. We hope to expand our inter-track wagering network and to better the on-track attendance.

The perception was that it was very crowded here. ITW Staff Photo Ann Slmonda Horses leave the Del Mar paddock for the walking ring and the start of another race. racing may come back to Del Mar in November If successful, the bid by Continental Racing Association for a multi-year contract would reverse a long-term decline in California of stan-dardbred, or harness, racing. Some standardbred horse owners blamed the decline on the political influence of the thoroughbred racing community. At a meeting Thursday with local civic leaders, the plans backers pointed to a more favorable regulatory climate as the main reason they expect to be more successful than the last time a harness racing meet was held at Del Mar in 1981.

Noting that there are 150 standardbred owners and trainers in the vicinity, Bill Masterson of Continental Rac- -ing said, Why cant we race our own horses in our own community in a facility thats basically empty most of the year? The proposal by Continental came about after the State Racetrack Leasing Commission circulated a request for a harness racing proposal last August. The commission acted after legislation introduced by Assemblywoman Sunny Mo-jonnier (R-Encinitas) lowered the tax burden on the harness racing industry. Also a key, Masterson said, was a regulatory change that allowed fewer race days per week i Harness By Patrick McCartney Staff Writer DEL MAR Harness racing may return to the Del Mar Fairgrounds this November, if a proposal announced last week is approved by state racing officials. The season, to begin Nov. 5, would run for 13 weeks, with races scheduled for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

All races would be held during daylight hours. The backers forecast a daily attendance of 2,000, and project wagering to total $33.8 million for the 39-day meet. Nearly three-fourths of the wagering is expected to come from inter-track betting in Los Angeles and elsewhere. JOHN LYNCH San Diego QB to merge their proposals, and Flavin now serves as president of Continental Racing Association, Masterson said. On July 17, the newly combined firm filed its proposal with the commission.

On Aug. 8, it will present its case to the 22nd District Agricultural Association, and seek an endorsement. In addition to the State Racetrack Leasing Commission and the Agricultural Association, the proposal must also be approved by the State Department of Food and Agriculture, Department of General Services, the California Horse Racing Board and the Coastal Commission. Continental has already met with John Kentera, Mark Halda, Frank Chambliss and Bill Boyd. Other locals competing include Vistas Tamasi Amituanai, Fallbrooks James Loftis and Greg Hukari, Rancho Buena Vistas Jack Harrington, El Caminos Shane Armstrong, Kim de los Reyes, and Sylvester Jones and San Dieguitos Tom Pellegrino and Tim Patterson.

Its fun to be around the kids from different programs like El Camino, Rik Haines said. Were not here to get the kids into shape, were here to have See Stars, Page C-2 each entity, Masterson said. When harness racing was last given a try at Del Mar in 1981, the operators lost close to $1 million, sources say. But Rancho Santa Fe resident Ann McGregor, who spearheaded the 1981 meet, blamed the losses on the unwillingness of state racing officials to grant a long-term lease. The commissioners were all thoroughbred people, McGregor said.

We had a great season here, but didnt get the help we needed. Another owner of standard-bred horses, Troy King of Solana Beach, said that the influence of the thoroughbred See Harness, Page C-2 TOM PELLEGRINO Off to St. Marys at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Together, Masterson described the changes as a special encouragement to the industry. Before approaching racing officials, Continental Racing had to come to an agreement with Patrick Flavin of San Diegos American Data Group, who also expressed an interest in submitting a proposal.

Continental has deep roots in harness racing on the East Coast, Masterson said. It counts among its investors the Rooney family that owns the Pittsburgh Steelers and Yonkers Raceway in New York. The two companies agreed valuable player honors. With the likes of Lynch and Morris, it appears San Diego may have a good chance to make it three in a row. It makes you wish they were yours coming back for another year, said Vista coach Dick Haines, who will help son Rik by coaching the defense along with Vista assistants Steve Tambur-rino and Bob McCallister and Lincolns Roy Reed.

With these guys, we might have a chance to reverse that 0-10 record from last year. Also acting as assistant coaches will be Torrey Pines Haines welcomes talented squad of stars All-Star team at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5 at Torrey Pines High School. Morris, bound for San Diego State, and Lynch, headed for Stanford, will be the quarterbacks for Haines team, which met for the first time Monday at Torrey Pines.

In all, 38 county high school graduates make up the team for this years game, and they will be trying to extend San Diegos two-year winning streak. Last year Torrey Pines Tim Walker kicked a game-winning last-minute field goal to give San Diego a 23-21 win and earn most the wave surf meet probably never would have done it. Its ended up being a lot of fun for me. But I think the older guys dont take it quite as seriously as the younger guys do. Theres no money on the line, no career on the line.

Everybody wants to win, but its a little different for us I guess. In the mens division, the very first wave Stephen Denham caught Saturday morning had the potential to drop him to sixth in a six-man final. On that wave, he interfered with an opponent, an offense that wiped out one of five rides scored in the 20-minute heat. If I had gone straight, we would have collided, said Denham, 20. So after that I sat there for a minute and put my head down to think.

Right after that, I got the best wave fit the heat. I thought for See Machado, Page C-2 By Boyce Garrison Staff Writer DEL MAR Many football coaches would love to have the problems Torrey Pines High coach Rik Haines has right now. Who wouldnt want to lead a team of the countys best players from 1988 including quarterbacks John Lynch (Torrey Pines) and Cree Morris (Orange Glen) and the multi-talented Eric Robinson (El Camino). Haines may need two or three footballs to get them all involved when the San Diego County All-Stars play a Los Angeles Machado cant catch and finishes third in By John Schlegel Staff Writer OCEANSIDE You cant surf when you dont get waves and that was the dilemma facing Cardiffs Rob Machado on Saturday in the finals of the U.S. Amateur Surfing Championships at Harbor Beach.

Machado wound up third in the junior mens final behind Jeff Deffenbaugh of the Western Surfing Association and Huntington Beach, and Danny Melhado, a member of the Eastern Surfing Association from Indialantic, Fla. Machado, 15, a National Scholastic Surfing Association member who had won all four of his preliminary heats, couldnt get the waves he needed in his 20-minute heat with five other competitiors. Jeff and Danny were the only nes to get Vxe waves at the beginning of the heat, Machado said. For the next two or three minutes," there were no waves. By the time the next wave came, those guys had paddled back out and it was a battle to get' waves.

As the time ran down I had to catch some of the smaller waves to get my wave count, but I was pretty happy to get third. Rob wasnt the only family member to make his presence felt. Robs father, Jim, made the semi-main in the Grandmasters division, while his uncle, Ed, took third in the senior mens and also competed in the longboard. In a strange twist, Ed, a Leucadia resident, has followed in his nephews wake. The way it all started for me was that I was following Robs surfing and one day he said, Why dont you come out to the (1988) nationals in Hawaii? said Ed Machado, who played volleyball and surfed for UCLA.

If Rot wasnt doing this,.