A mixture of conditioned and claiming trotters, racing for a $4,000 purse, were featured at Cal Expo on Friday night, on which Putoneonnetformom won for the 20th time in his career.
In advance of starting from post-four, driver James Kennedy called an audible.
"The plan was to leave and go to the front," stated Kennedy. "But I changed my plans when I saw the track surface because it seemed a little deep and I didn't think it would be front-end friendly - - but I still thought my chances were fairly good."
Leaving off the wings, but taking back just past the start, Kennedy had a crafty reason.
"I left a little bit, but that was to make the others think I was so they would go for their position - - and that's why I quickly took back."
Coming away in fourth position, Kennedy was pleased at the quarter-mile pole.
The :29.2 fraction for the first-quarter was very good for me, plus I hadn't used my horse."
Remaining content in the cleanup spot with no second-quarter pace, Kennedy wasn't concerned.
"I know Meringue (Luke Plano), who was on the lead, and once he's fired up he's kind of hard to settle down. So I figured if I sat and waited until at least the half that I could probably run him down."
On the move without cover to the 9-16ths mile station and moving decently with three-eighths of a mile to go, the eight year-old took a parked out lead to the three-quarter mile marker, timed in 1:29.2.
"I was sitting pretty happy at that point because I was just getting him geared up and hadn't pulled the earplugs yet. Once I popped them as soon as I cleared Meringue's feet, my horse took off like a bat out of you know what."
Drawing clear at the head of the lane and opening up by 2-3/4 lengths to the seven-eighths mile pole while under wheel-disc urging, there'd be no catching the gelding.
"He was very responsive to my urging and raced well of a basically no-use trip."
Bred & owned by Jeff, Gerald & Diana Cimini, the Rocky Stidham trained trotter won ($3.80) by 2-3/4 lengths, in 1:57.4. Giles L S Hanover (Steve Wiseman) finished in second, and Carpathian Hooray (Jim Lackey) finished another 1-1/2 lengths farther back, in third.
"I thought he raced better tonight than he has in a while," finished Kennedy, who had five winners on the 15-race program.
Live racing continues at Cal Expo on Saturday (January 28) at 6:00 p.m. (PST). On Saturday, Cal Expo offers Happy Hour from 4:00-7:00 p.m. on which Beer; Well Drinks & Wine are offered at $4 each, while Hotdogs, Fries & Sodas are offered at $2 apiece.
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 (mandatory payoff) tickets made at Cal Expo or at Twinspires.com.
