With his archrival getting used hard for the lead, Franks Best was more than happy to take advantage of a race that shaped up for him.
Winners-Over trotters, racing for a $4,500 purse, were featured at Cal Expo on Thursday night (December 1), on which Franks Best repeated.
In advance of starting from post-five in the field of the same number, the real question was what would the strategy be?
“Bob (Johnson) and I talked about that before the race and we figured that Shelby County (Rocky Stidham) and Putoneonnetformom (James Kennedy), the Stidham trained horses, would probably be leaving," said driver Lemoyne Svendsen. "So Bob left it up to me to make the decision on what to do."
Leaving some and dropping in fourth as the field entered the first-turn, the Johnson trained Giles L S Hanover (Steve Wiseman) was pushing the pace hard which had Shelby County parked two-wide and Putoneonnetformom three-wide the first 3-16ths of a mile. With Wiseman yielding 3-16ths of a mile past the start, Shelby County and her stable-mate appeared to bicker until Putoneonnetformom cleared a hard lead at the 5-16ths mile station off of a bruising :27.4 opening-quarter.
"I was absolutely loving it because I was just back there sitting chilly while they were battling it out."
With Kennedy hitting the brakes once on the lead and getting a :30 quarter into his charge, but into a fast :57.4 first-half into a strong headwind on the backside, did it concern Svendsen that Putoneonnetformom “might” have gotten a breather?
"That quarter was NOT a breather, and you can figure out why," laughed Svendsen. "Plus we were going into what seemed like a 100 miles per hour wind."
With the field now 7-16ths of a mile from home, Kennedy chased after his gelding to try and get away, but his trotter wasn't really responding.
"When I made my (first-over) move just past the five-eighths - - that was because I could see James getting after his horse and I could see that his horse was done."
Moving quickly into a slow third-quarter with a dangling head-pole that came undone around the half-mile juncture, Franks Best, at the three-quarter mile pole, timed in 1:28.3, was just taking a parked-out lead over his used up foe.
"He was a bulldog when he took over the lead at the three-quarters - - he just bulled on by."
Opening up in the blink of an eye at the head of the lane, then on top by almost four-lengths with an eighth of a mile to go, the four year-old, while not urged much, expanded his lead to win ($2.60) by 7-3/4 lengths, this despite a minor issue.
"He was excellent down the stretch considering, as I later would find out from watching the replay, that he was getting “doinked” on the knee by the head-pole - - which made him not carry his right-front correctly because the head-pole was “doinking” off that knee."
Bred, owned, and trained by Bob Johnson, the gelding stopped the timer at 1:57, a lifetime best. Giles L S Hanover finished in second, and Shelby County, the lone lady in the race, finished another 1-1/2 lengths farther back, in third.
"With all the hustling up front, it was a pretty easy race for him, but he still knew what to do with it and still raced strong," finished Svendsen.
Live racing resumes at Cal Expo on Friday (December 2) & Saturday (December 3) night at 6:00 p.m. (PST). On Friday, Cal Expo offers free parking & free admission after 4:30 p.m. Also on Friday, Cal Expo offers Happy Hour between 6:00-8:30 p.m., where $2 Beer, $2 Wine & $2 Buffalo Wings an order is offered.
Cal Expo now offers a reduced 15 percent takeout rate on all Pick 4’s (Thursday/Friday nights in partnership with the USTA Strategic Wagering Committee). In addition, all Late Pick 4’s will come with a $10,000-guaranteed pool. On Saturday night, there will be a 0% takeout on successful Late Pick 4 tickets made at Cal Expo or at Twinspires.com.
