Cowboy
Hanover Prepares For Shootout At Cal Expo
Thursday, May 3, 2012 - by Mark
Ratzky, Publicity -- Cal Expo
Cowboy
Hanover, a classy 8-year-old pacer with $185,000 in the bank and a 1:51.2 mark,
is set to make his seasonal debut for trainer Mark Anderson in Saturday night’s
(May 5) featured Winners-Over Pace at Cal Expo.
The
son of Western Ideal has won 30 of his 145 appearances, including several huge
miles over the Cal Expo layout, and was last seen doing his work at Running
Aces in Minnesota last August. Lemoyne
Svendsen will handle the lines.
There
will be no shortage of serious rivals for Cowboy Hanover this weekend, as
Racing Secretary Fred Kuebler has brought together an extremely talented cast
for this clash at the head of the pacing class.
Joining
Cowboy Hanover at the gate will be the likes of the razor-sharp Albion; the
classy mare Haggin Oaks; the always-dangerous Split Ticket and the returning
Ivegotwhatuneed. One And Only, Stanza
and Cycle Power will round out this powerful cast.
Tuning
up for his return, Cowboy Hanover made a mockery of a qualifier here last
weekend, going coast-to-coast with Svendsen in the sulky and apparently setting
himself up perfectly for his official 2012 debut. He opened up 10 lengths at the head of the
lane and cruised home with five and a half to spare in the 1:56.2 mile.
“I
had no intention of doing that, but he had ideas of his own,” Svendsen
related. “He was fired up and wanted to
go and I was a passenger. It was a real
nice tightener for him.”
Cowboy
Hanover had some pretty nice pacers in his wake, with Split Ticket finishing
willingly for the runner-up spot as he looks to suit up again after capturing
several top dances here earlier this season.
This race promises to be a good one.
Friday
Trot Brings Out Solid Stidham Duo At Cal Expo
Stidham
will handle Shelby County, who is fresh from a victory last weekend, while
James Kennedy has the return assignment behind Putoneonnetformom, who scratched
last week, but posted a romping decision at most recent asking on April 13.
Shelby
County is a 5-year-old Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Chip Chip Hooray who has
clicked in five of her 13 trips to the post this season with a 1:57.1 lifetime
standard that was established at Cal Expo earlier this year. In last week’s tally, she made every pole a
winning one with Stidham and came to the line with a length and three-quarters
on Giles L S Hanover.
Putoneonnetformom
is an 8-year-old son of Trot For Joy who is just shy of the $140,000 earnings
plateau and set his 1:57.2 mark over the Cal Expo layout last season. After chasing home the now Eastern-departed
Franks Best in four straight outings, the dark-hued trotter crushed his rivals
two weeks ago in a nine and a quarter-length front-end decision.
Shelby
County has been assigned the No. 6 post for this go-around, while
Putoneonnetformom does his work from the outside seven-slot. Both figure to be out and moving early and it
will interesting to see how things shake out into that first turn.
Taking
on the Stidham pair from the rail out are Broadway Victory for John McKeon Jr.;
Meringue from the Kennedy Lindsey barn; the Larry Alterman-trained Winsom
Kelly; and the Bob Johnson trainees Giles L S Hanover and Dudis Angel. A 14-race program is on tap Friday, with the
feature set as the fifth contest on the evening.
*********
Beginning
this week, Cal Expo is increasing purses by 25 percent. The increases will remain in effect through
the end of the current meeting in June.
Live
racing resumes at Cal Expo on Friday (May 4) & Saturday (May 5) at 6:00
p.m. (PST). On
every live card, Cal Expo offers free parking & free admission after 4:30
p.m. On Friday, Cal Expo offers Happy Hour
from 4:00-7:00 p.m. on which Beer; Well Drinks & Wine are offered at $4
each, while a Burger
with fries is offered at $5.
Cal
Expo currently offers a reduced 15 percent takeout rate on all Pick 4’s. Additionally, all Late Pick 4’s now come with
an increased $20,000-guaranteed gross pool.
Also, the Friday Late Pick 4 will offer a 0% takeout on all winning
wagers made on track or at Twinspires.com, while the Saturday Late Pick 4 will
be broadcast on TVG.
