Harness races in Southern California are regularly “fixed” by drivers who purposely lose while betting on other horses, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The problem is serious enough that four Las Vegas betting parlors handling sporting events nationwide quit taking bets on California harness races last year, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner reported. The paper’s investigation was based on interviews with 76 people in the industry, one-third of whom said they knew of races that had been fixed. “From all the information I get, there’s no question that’s what’s going on,” said Raymond Seeley, a member and former chairman of the California Horse Racing Board. Rigging races is most common at Fairplex Park in Pomona and Los Alamitos in the Orange County city of that name, the paper said, while Cal-Expo track in Sacramento is the state’s cleanest. According to harness drivers and others quoted anonymously by the paper, the most common way drivers cheat is to bet on another horse while holding theirs back from a full effort. Others will hold a good horse back for several races to boost the odds, then bet on their own horse and run a strong race, the paper said. A motive may be declining attendance at races, which leads to smaller purses for winners. The average purse per race in 1986 was about $4,000, but some were as low as $1,000 this year. Since drivers collect only 5 percent of the purse, the winning rider may get as little as $100.
HORSE RACING NELSON HUNT WILL SELL HIS BREEDING, RACING STOCK
Texas oilman Nelson Bunker Hunt, who received Eclipse Awards in 1976 and 1985 as thoroughbred racing’s outstanding breeder, has decided to sell his breeding and racing stock. Hunt’s decision was announced at a news conference by Keeneland President Bill Greely and Larry Richardson, general manager of Hunt’s Bluegrass Farm. Greely read a prepared statement from Hunt that said: “Because of business commitments in the oil and gas industry, I reluctantly have made the decision to disperse my entire thoroughbred holdings.” The Hunt dispersal will include approximately 285 broodmares, 170 yearlings and 115 2-year-olds. Hunt was North America’s leading breeder in 1986 in races won and earnings, and currently is the 1987 leader. Hunt-bred horses earned $5,086,082 and won 281 races, including seven Grade I events, last year. He has bred more than 125 stakes winners, including Eclipse Award winners Dahlia in 1974, Youth in 1976, Trillion in 1979 and Estrapade in 1986…
Sunny Feet, the odds-on favorite, took the lead entering the stretch and went on to a half-length victory in the $42,000 Mail Order Handicap for 3- year-olds and up at Belmont Park… No. 11 Ernies Choice won the third race at Thistledown and was followed by No. 12 Sis Marion and No. 2 Sunny Mist, producing a trifecta payoff of $33,801.90.
HOCKEY OILERS’ COFFEY SUSPENDED; SOVIETS SUSPECT REFEREE BIAS
A spokesman for the Edmonton Oilers says defenseman Paul Coffey has been suspended for failing to report to the NHL team. The all-star defenseman, one of several Oilers given time off after the recent Canada Cup tournament, was to report back Wednesday morning. However, Coffey’s agent told Edmonton coach Glen Sather his client would not play again until his contract had been renegotiated. Sather, meanwhile, has maintained he will not renegotiate while a player is suspended. Coffey also will be fined on a daily basis while he’s suspended. Sather refused to discuss the amount of the fine…
Soviet national coach Viktor Tikhonov said in an interview a major reason his team lost the Canada Cup final earlier this month was “bias and errors in refereeing.” In an interview with the trade union newspaper Trud, Tikhonov was also critical of his own defensemen and goalies and promised a shakeup at those positions. He hinted that the Soviet defensemen may be getting too old and he said finding talented young defensemen was now a top priority for the Soviet Union.
The U.S. Olympic Hockey team introduced a music video called “This Time for Sure in New York as it prepared to leave for a 52-city tour of the United States. The video, featuring hockey footage, will be offered to arena’s hosting games in a bid to generate support for the team…
The New Jersey Devils assigned center Kevin Todd, left wing John Andersen and goalie Frederic Chabot to their junior teams. They also released left wing Gus Greco to reduce their training camp roster to 54 players…
The NHL announced it will use fan balloting to decide starting All-Star teams for the third straight year. Fans will vote in all 21 league arenas in November and December to pick sqauds for the Feb. 9 game at St. Louis, Mo.
TENNIS TOP SEEDS LUNDGREN, CURREN ELIMINATED AT L.A. VOLVO
Third-seeded Peter Lundgren was eliminated in the $315,000 Volvo-Los Angeles tournament in second-round men’s singles play, while unseeded Marty Davis defeated sixth seed Kevin Curren. David Pate had four aces in the first set and 10 aces in the second set to beat Lundgren 6-4, 6-4. Pate lost only four points on his serve. Davis beat Curren 7-6, 6-7, 7-6. The marathon match lasted almost 2 1/2 hours…
Fourth-seeded Emilio Sanchez defeated Franco Davin 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of the 35th Count of Godo tournament in Barcelona, Spain. Other winners included Sergio Casal, Juan Aguilera, Martin Jaite and Ronald Agenor. Also Claude Mezzadri topped Tomas Smid 6-1, 6-3 and Guillermo Perez Roldan outlasted Milan Srejber 6-4, 1-6, 8-6…
Heavy rain washed out all but one match at the $150,000 Virginia Slims women’s tournament in Hamburg, West Germany. In a match that was suspended because of rain Tuesday, Patricia Tarabini defeated Catherine Tanvier 6-3, 6-0.
GUNNARSSON ON CUP TEAM JAN GUNNARSSON WILL REPLACE THE INJURED JOAKIM NYSTROM AS THE FOURTH MEMBER OF THE SWEDISH DAVIS CUP SQUAD, NON-PLAYING CAPTAIN HANS OLSSON ANNOUNCED. SWEDEN PLAYS SPAIN IN THE SEMIFINAL, SCHEDULED FOR OCT. 2-4 ON CLAY IN BARCELONA. OTHER MEMBERS OF THE SWEDISH TEAM ARE RECENT U.S. OPEN FINALIST MATS WILANDER, STEFAN EDBERG AND ANDERS JARRYD. NYSTROM INJURED HIS KNEE IN LAST WEEK’S GRAND PRIX TOURNAMENT AT GENEVA, SWITZERLAND. HE IS EXPECTED TO BE SIDELINED FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEKS. SPANISH DAVIS CUP COACH MANUEL ORANTES HAS ANNOUNCED THAT EMILIO AND JAVIER SANCHEZ, SERGIO CASAL AND ALBERT TOUS WILL BE IN THE SPANISH LINEUP. AUSTRALIA FACES INDIA IN THE OTHER DAVIS CUP SEMIFINAL AT SYDNEY’S WHITE CITY STADIUM’S GRASS COURTS. AUTO RACING GUERRERO IN PRIVATE ROOM; 2-3 YEARS FROM FULL RECOVERY
Race car driver Roberto Guerrero, critically injured in a crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway two weeks ago, was moved to a private room at Indianapolis Methodist Hospital. The condition of the 28-year-old Colombian has been upgraded from serious to good and he is beginning to regain consciousness, hospital spokesman Jon White said. Guerrero had been in the hospital’s critical care unit since the Sept. 10 crash. Although Guerrero’s improvement has been steady, his neurosurgeon said it could be two or three years before the driver fully recovers from his head injuries…
Dale Earnhardt, victorious in all six short-track races held so far this year on NASCAR’s Winston Cup series, goes for No. 7 Sunday in the Goody’s 500 on Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Qualifying for the first 20 starting positions in the 30-car field will be held this afternoon, with the remainder of the lineup to be determined in Friday runs.
MISCELLANEOUS JOHNSON WINS 100 METERS; POLISH WOMEN’S COACH JAILED
Canada’s Ben Johnson, the world’s fastest sprinter, won the 100-meter event in 10.29 seconds at the Tokyo International Track and Field Championships. Japan’s Hiroki Fuwa came in second and set a Japanese record of 10:33, shaving 0.01 second off the previous mark. Soviet Sergei Bubka, the world record holder in the pole vault, cleared 19 feet, 4 1/4 inches to win the event. Sweden’s Patrik Sjoberg won the men’s high jump with a 7-7 leap and Tamara Bykova of the Soviet Union won the women’s high jump with 6-2 1/4. American Larry Myricks leaped 28-5, his personal best, to win the men’s long jump. Twelve countries, including China, Bulgaria and Poland, competed in the event at the National Stadium…
The coach of a top Polish women’s basketball team has been sentenced to prison for one year for attempted bribery. Zbigniew Lata, coach of Czarni Szczecin also was banned from coaching for four years after a court in Poznan found him guilty of offering opponents money in return for losing…
James “Buddy” McGirt, hoping for a shot at the vacant International Boxing Federation junior welterweight title, will fight former lightweight champion Ernesto Espana in a scheduled 10-round bout at the Felt Forum Oct. 1, Madison Square Garden announced. Pernell Whitaker, the 1984 Olympic lightweight champion, will fight Jose Mosqueda in a 10-round lightweight bout, while Ricky Stackhouse will defend the Continental America’s middleweight title aginst Kevin Moley in a 12-round match.
