A pair of $10,000 finales for the Bronte Epilepsy Research Foundation Amateur Series will be decided at Cal Expo Saturday evening (November 5), with Spanish Rosey, Incredible Gambler and Just Plum Lucky looming large in the distaff event, while Rude Awakening, Sterling Chris and Serious Art are major players in the contest for the males.
From the eight elimination races, half have been captured by Dave Siegel, who won three in the first leg and added one last week. Amanda Fraser has accounted for a pair, while Robert Stepien and Brian Marchand took the other two contests.
The Amateur series is being sponsored by Lou Pena and some of his owners. Between their generosity and the driver fees, a total of $7,000 beyond the purse monies will go to the Bronte Foundation. In addition, driver George Brennan has pledged an additional donation that will significantly augment that figure.
There will be a 500 T-shirt giveaway on track to commemorate the Bronte series and free TrackMaster past performances and analysis for the Saturday card will be available at trackmaster.com/calx and at calexpoharness.com.
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For those of you keeping track, Gene Vallandingham’s victory with Amazon Dot last Friday night (October 28) was No. 2,917 of his career, with over $13 million in earnings. Amazon Dot, who is also owned and trained by Vallandingham, rallied with live cover and won going away by three lengths for the $29 upset.
“I got her from Rick Plano last spring,” Gene related when asked about the 4-year-old daughter of Little Steven. “She’s a nice mare, but she’s got a few problems. We had a good trip and she paced strong to the finish. To be honest, most of the time she hangs in that last eighth, but she was much better this time.”
Vallandingham’s familiar red, white and blue silks were also seen in the winner’s circle on Saturday (October 29) when Blissful Winds got the job done and returned $11.60 to his backers. Make that 2,918 and counting.
Live racing resumes at Cal Expo On Thursday, (November 3) at 5:30 p.m. (PDT), and continues on Friday (November 4) & Saturday (November 5) 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.
In a message dated 10/24/11 8:35:45 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, Chicagovoice2002@aol.com writes:
Bronte Amateur Series 2nd Leg, Complete Breeders Crown Simulcast Set For Saturday At Cal Expo
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - by Mark Ratzky, Publicity -- Cal Expo
The second leg of the Bronte Epilepsy Research Foundation Amateur Series, with a pair of $10,000 finales looming next week; and a simulcast of the complete Breeders Crown program from Woodbine are on tap at Cal Expo Saturday night (October 29).
The Amateur series is being sponsored by Lou Pena and some of his owners. Between their generosity and the driver fees, a total of $7,000 beyond the purse monies will go to the Bronte Foundation. In addition, driver George Brennan has pledged an additional donation which will significantly augment that figure.
There is one event for males and one for distaffers, going in two divisions each. The first leg of the series found the pacers sporting $3,000 base claiming prices, while they will have $4,500 claiming tags this time around. The top eight purse earners from each group will compete in the respective $10,000 finales and there will be no claiming in that affair. It was also recently announced that there will be an on-track 500 T-shirt giveaway on that Saturday, November 5.
Last week’s opening leg saw Dave Siegel accounting for three of the four races, capturing both contests for the males with Rude Awakening and Serious Art and one of the distaff events with OG’s Si Bon. Amanda Fraser guided the other mare victress in Incredible Gambler.
Four of the pacers changed hands via the claiming box, including the aforementioned Serious Art who was taken after a six-way shake. Also claimed were Kamoda’s Fantasy, Sterling Chris and Just Plum Lucky. It will be interesting to see how much claiming takes place this weekend.
Free TrackMaster Cal Expo past performances for the next two Saturday programs will be available at trackmaster.com/calx and at calexpoharness.com.
Meanwhile, the complete 12-race Breeders Crown card from Woodbine will be simulcast on Saturday. The outstanding card features $6 million in purses and a pair of $100,000-guaranteed Pick 4s.
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Thursday night’s (October 27) main event at Cal Expo is a $4,500 trot that brings out Franks Best and Putoneonnetformom. Franks Best is a 4-year-old homebred son of Armbro Scribe and the American Winner mare Inside Edition who is bred, owned and trained by Bob Johnson and will once again have Lemoyne Svendsen in the sulky. He comes into this assignment with $108,000 in his account and a 1:57.1 mark that was established in his most recent appearance.
The Johnson representative, who is gunning for a hat trick, kicked off his winning streak on September 23, coming from well off the pace with live cover to hang a head on Putoneonnetformom. He tracked that rival on October 7 and got the advantage at the wire by three-quarters of a length, then sat a perfect pocket journey in that last mile and was up by a length and a quarter while shaving three ticks off his career standard in the process.
Putoneonnetformom is looking to turn the tables on his archrival for owner/breeders Gerald, Jeff and Diana Cimini, trainer Rocky Stidham and pilot James Kennedy. The 7-year-old Trot For Joy offspring has won three of his six starts at this meet, settling for the exacta completion behind Franks Best on the other three occasions. Aston Boko, Carpathian Hooray, D Man and Noble Way
