LOS ALAMITOS : The Beat Goes On for Red Hot Rhythm

Red Hot Rhythm has emerged as one of the top juveniles at Los Alamitos after winning Friday night’s $160,000 Kindergarten Futurity to remain undefeated.

Trained by Brian Koriner, the Chicks Beduino colt easily won his debut on April 16 by three-quarters of a length, leading the 300-yard quarter horse race from wire to wire. Nearly a month later, on May 12, he ran his second race in the trials for the Kindergarten Futurity.

Ridden by jockey Ralph Seville, Red Hot Rhythm broke from the outside post position, ducking out sharply at the break.

“I didn’t dream he’d win his trial,” said Red Hot Rhythm’s owner, Hank Ward of Ward Ranch. “He went off the [television] screen.”

After Seville got Red Hot Rhythm straightened out, the colt found his best stride and won by half a length, qualifying for the finals.

“I knew that wasn’t him the other night,” Ward said of the colt’s erratic performance in the trials.

In the Grade II finals, Red Hot Rhythm broke from the No. 7 post in a field that was reduced to nine because of the late scratch of Howbout Them Cowboys.

But the rest of the 350-yard race went perfectly for Red Hot Rhythm, who was never seriously challenged on the way to a one-length victory in the Kindergarten Futurity.

Even more impressive was the winning time of 17.48 seconds. It was the second-fastest 350-yard time in the history of the race and tied Red Hot Rhythm with Avison for the fastest 350-yard clocking of the meeting.

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Jockey Kip Didericksen, who retired from riding in 1992, returned to Los Alamitos in impressive form Saturday night, winning the $20,000 Double Bid Handicap with 7-1 outsider Doctor Rum.

Doctor Rum broke with the pack in the six-horse field, dueling with early leader The Money Crunch before pulling away to win by a nose over Pritzi Dash. Favored Avison broke in the air and then drifted in, finishing fifth.

Didericksen started his comeback at Les Bois Park in Boise, Ida., winning the AQHA Northwest Derby Challenge with Darlenes Sugar on May 20. Before that, Didericksen’s last race was in 1992 at Los Alamitos, when he rode Refrigerator to victory in the Champion of Champions.

That race temporarily ended a career that had included five national jockey championships and numerous stakes victories. But the 5-foot-9 Didericksen had trouble maintaining riding weight. The recent increase in quarter horse weights from 122 to 124 pounds at Los Alamitos made his return possible.