From their last seven meetings, Franks Best has posed for pictures three times, while Putoneonnetformom has gotten the job on the other three occasions. Rounding out the field are Shelby County, Giles L S Hanover, Meringue and Broadway Victory.
Franks Best is a 5-year-old son of Armbro Scribe and the American Winner mare Inside Edition who is owned, trained and was bred by Bob Johnson and will once again have Lemoyne Svendsen giving directions. He is at the $116,000 earnings mark and sports a 1:57 mark.
He completely dominated his rivals on November 17 and December 1, putting his versatility and class on display. Franks Best made every pole a winning one in the first of those scores, coming home with two and three-quarters length to spare that evening. He sat off a wicked pace at next asking, looped the leaders turning for home and drew off in a romp while establishing the 1:57 career standard.
Sent off at 30 cents on the dollar in the most recent get-together at the top level, he had to be happy with a third-place finish after sitting last to the stretch while his archrival enjoyed a clear advantage to the lane and turned the tables that evening.
Putoneonnetformom is an 8-year-old Trot For Joy homebred has been turning in some huge efforts here since returning from a vacation. His most recent tally put him at $125,000 in earnings and he has a 1:57.2 mark on his card. He carries the banner of Jeff, Gerald and Diana Cimini, hails from the Rocky Stidham barn and has James Kennedy again doing the honors.
In that last score, Kennedy made what proved to be the winning move with the trotter past the quarter. Putoneonnetformom opened up turning for home and came to the wire by a length and three-quarters over stable-mate Shelby County while Franks Best was another length back in third. Other driving assignments find Tony Succarotte guiding Shelby County; Steve Wiseman drives Giles L S Hanover; Luke Plano will handle Meringue and John McKeon pilots Broadway Victory from the rail.
Live racing resumes at Cal Expo on Friday (January 6) & Saturday (January 7) 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.
