by Frank Salive, publicity director, The Isle Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — A slower than average start to the 2009-2010 season at the Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park has ended for trainer Alex Kavoleff and he says it was all just a matter of time.

“Sometimes you just have to keep working because you know in the back of your mind that things are going to get better,” the 57-year-old conditioner said in a live trackside TV interview before the Feb. 15 program in South Florida. “Even though I only won two times from over 40 starters from December through January it was never really a time to panic.”

Lap Time Photo – Skip Smith

Last Saturday night’s win by Allbecauseofthis has trainer Alex Kavoleff thinking that improved fortunes are on the immediate horizon for his stable at the Isle.

The tide turned in a big way last weekend for the Kavoleff operation on the Pompano backstretch. Last Saturday he harnessed four starters and the results were impressive with a win for Allbecauseofthis, a pair of runner-up finishes with Arizona Helen and Fulla Fire, and a fourth place showing for Art Aficionado after a parked trip.

“Allbecauseofthis I was especially happy to see win because he had choked down in his last start for Joe Pavia, Jr. before we bought him,” Kavoleff explains. “I put a Cornell collar on him and got him squared away. Fulla Fire raced great on the lead from a post eight start, he only lost to the pocket horse, and I feel he should win very soon. Art Aficionado just needs any sort of a better trip.”

Also in the care of Kavoleff is the well known Arizona Helen, the subject of a well publicized case involving the pacer’s gender.

“Whether Arizona Helen is a he or a she, whatever it is, it’s racing great since we got to Florida and has probably been my most consistent one this meet,” he observes. “Basically what happened with that sex test question was the horse tested high for steroids and the State testing in Pennsylvania showed the horse had sufficient testosterone levels to show it was a male. Regardless, I’m really happy with the way Arizona Helen has hit the board in all seven starts since I shipped in.”

The 2009-2010 meet marks the seventh winter that Kavoleff has had a seasonal base on the backstretch at the Isle. His string of meets here was interrupted in 2009 since he had three horses in early and late closers at the Meadowlands.

“Yes, we stayed up there last year and almost froze,” Kavoleff declares. “I really like the set-up I have now with a home base at Pocono Downs and coming to Florida in the winter. My son Paul is up north readying four horses for Pocono for me. When I first shipped in at the end of November a few of my horses got sick, it might have been the change in the weather from Pennsylvania to Florida, and I gave them all a month off. They’re all adjusted now.”