By Mark
Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
There
is a Pick 5 carryover of $9,145 going into Friday night’s program with the
wager sporting a $25,000-guaranteed gross pool and a reduced 16 percent takeout
rate. The Pick 5 is a 50-cent wager and begins on the third race.
There
are three wagers on the card that offer the 16 percent takeout. In addition to
the Pick 5, there is the 20-cent Pick 4 that has a $20,000-guaranteed pool on
Fridays and a $25,000 guarantee on Saturdays and the 10-cent Hi-Five on the
nightcap.
Friday
night’s carryover is the result of favorites blanking in last Saturday
evening’s Pick 5. While the opening event in that sequence was a two-horse race
between the winner King Of The Crop and arch-rival Rikybrunthegaragdwn, 14-1
upsets by Scooter Babe and Fox Valley Wyatt and victories by 7-2 Try This and
3-1 Me Tarzan sealed the deal.
Friday’s
main event is an Open 2 Trot that finds Hellogottagobuhbye and Franks Best
escaping the top ranks and getting away from the streaking El Azteca, who has
rattled off six straight victories.
Hellogottagobuhbye
is a 6-year-old son of Dream Vacation who is owned and driven by Daniel Maier
with Tim Maier the conditoner. He has won three of his nine trips to the post
this season, including a victory in the opening leg of the Jim Grundy Series on
March 1, and has been second and third behind El Azteca in his last two
appearances in the Open Handicap.
Franks
Best comes into this assignment with some impressive credentials, as the
multiple stakes-winning Armbro Scribe gelding has banked over $190,000 for his
owner/breeder/trainer Bob Johnson with a 1:56 2/5 lifetime standard. Mooney
Svendsen will once again be in the sulky.
While
Franks Best is still looking for his first snapshot on the year, he has four
runner-up finishes from his seven attempts and like Hellogottagobuhbye will
appreciate getting away from El Azteca. He figures to play the role of stalker
behind his main rival in Friday’s headliner.
Dream Weaver,
George Reider join forces with winner
Wanna
Win did the track-and-attack to perfection last weekend, getting the cheese for
the combination of owner Dave (Dream) Weaver of TVG fame, trainer George Reider
and pilot James Kennedy.
Wanna
Win posed for pictures nine times last season, including a lifetime-best 1:52
4/5 clocking over the mile and a quarter Colonial Downs oval in Virginia. Her
win last week was her second in her last four trips to the post here for Team
Weaver and Reider.
“I
met the Dave through our mutual friend Wade Miller,” Reider explained. “He told
me that Dave was looking to relocate a few horses from Northfield Park to Cal
Expo and asked me if I was interested. After a few phone calls the partnership
was made.
“I
have two mares for him right now, and when they got off the truck from Ohio
they both had their problems. Racing on a half-mile track with sub freezing
temperatures will do that, but both horses have adapted to California quite well.”
Wanna
Win, a 6-year-old daughter of No Pan Intented, sat a pocket trip when she
clicked on February 22 with Luke Plano in the bike, then came from next-to-last
with a :27 3/5 quarter to romp home at most recent asking with Kennedy handling
the lines.
“This
is a mare who hits her knees like a lot of standardbreds, some doing it more
than others,” George continued. “She’s in the latter category, and.with the
bigger track, the shoeing change and the different equipment with some slight
adjustments, she's responded quite well.”
Weaver,
who is known for his “ice cold exactas” on TVG, has always been a big booster
of the trotters and pacers. “Dave is not your typical horse owner,” Reider
said. “He’s very knowledgeable about situations that arise on the track..I just
wish that we could race down in Los Angeles, so he could actually see his
horses race live.”
