Friday, January 20, 2012 - by Scott Ehrlich, Publicity – Cal Expo
Matias Ruiz was happy when his pacer Shoot The Works made a dozen winner’s circle appearances in 2009, and that was upgraded to ecstatic when the son of Hi Ho Silverheels garnered 18 snapshots last season.
Obviously not content with those figures, Shoot The Works comes into Saturday night’s (January 21) action at Cal Expo riding a six-race winning streak as he looks to pick up his third victory in as many weeks of January.
With the exception of one call at the quarter where he was sitting second, Shoot The Works and Luke Plano have been coast-to-coast victors during this recent winning skein, including last weekend’s tally where the 7-year-old moved up in class to face some conditioned rivals and made it look easy at even-money.
”When I first got him, he had a lot of problems, and one of the keys is that he doesn’t exactly train hard during the week,” owner/trainer Ruiz noted. “When it comes time to race, though, he’s ready to go.”
Things won’t be easy for Shoot The Works on Saturday, as he faces a salty group of sellers and goes from the cozy rail post last week to the outside for this go-around. In his current form, however, it’s hard to against this guy.
Meanwhile, One And Only suits up a bit earlier on the card in the featured Winner’s-Over Pace. The good new is that the son of Bettor’s Delight won’t have to face Cycle Power, who showed the way home in last week’s Lloyd Arnold Memorial while One And Only checked in second.
The bad news, however, is the fact that the razor-sharp mare Haggin Oaks is in the line-up after missing last week’s action. It’s a bit like jumping out of the frying pan into the fryer for One And Only, who took the measure of a softer group two back before earning the exacta completion at this top rung at most recent asking.
Jim Lackey will once again handle the lines.
“I remember Mike Lachance talking about Bettor’s Delight and he said he was the complete package,” Lackey noted. “I would describe One And Only the same way. I don’t know if he’ll ever be anywhere near as fast as his sire, but he’s an absolute joy to drive and tries hard each and every time.”
