When the 3-year-old pacing filly Hi Fidelity became part of the Rick Cisco barn at Cal Expo in August, chances are she felt very much at home as she was joining her full sisters Groovin Hi and Cinnamon and full brother Gutsy Winds Ahead.
Hi Fidelity, who races for her breeder Laurette Odney and is now co-owned by Cisco, is fresh from a $93 upset last week that has earned her a return to Sire Stakes action on Friday (October 28). She has one stakes trophy on her mantle, earned when she was a member of the Rick Plano barn.
"Laurette and her husband Doug are great owners and I got Hi Fidelity about a month before this meet started,” Cisco related. “Now we’ve got the three sisters and a brother with us and I guess this makes us a pretty unique barn.”
Hi Fidelity had to settle for minor awards in her first three starts under the Cisco banner, but lit up the tote last week as she was aggressively handled on the front end by Rick’s son Scott and prevailed by a length as a 46-1 shot. She lowered her lifetime standard to 1:56.4 in the process.
“She had some excuses in those first three starts,” her trainer noted. “She was used hard early in the first race and then still needed a race in the second one. The race before last, she had traffic trouble and Scott said she hooked up on her left line when he tried to move inside in the stretch and lost her chance.
“We changed up a couple of things on her before last week’s race, and Scott told me he was going to race her hard and see if she was ready to go back to the stakes races. It was a good mile for her and she earned her chance this week.”
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Saturday night’s (October 29) program will feature the second leg of the Bronte Epilepsy Research Foundation Amateur Series, with pacers vying for berths in two $10,000 finales that will be decided next week.
Free TrackMaster Cal Expo past performances and analysis for the next two Saturday programs will be available at trackmaster.com/calx and at calexpoharness.com.
The Saturday action also includes a simulcast of the complete 12-race Breeders Crown program from Woodbine. The card features over $6 million in purses and a pair of $100,000-guaranteed Pick 4s.
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Live racing resumes at Cal Expo On Thursday, (October 27) at 5:30 p.m. (PDT), and continues on Friday (October 28) & Saturday (October 29) is at 6:00 p.m. On Thursday and every live card, Cal Expo offers free admission, as well as free preferred & general parking after 4:30 p.m. Also on Thursday night from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Cal Expo offers a complete Lasagna dinner, which includes salad and bread, for just $3.00. Additionally on Thursday, beer & wine can be purchased for $3.00 each as well.
Cal Expo, in partnership with the USTA Strategic Wagering Committee, will offer the Thursday Pick 4's with a 15% takeout and a $10,000 Guarantee on the Late Pick 4. On Saturdays, Cal Expo will continue to offer a reduced 15 percent takeout rate on both Pick 4’s. In addition, the late Pick 4 will come with a $10,000-guaranteed pool with a 0% takeout on successful Late Pick 4 tickets made on track or at Twinspires.com.
