Another
Sweet hat trick for Ehrlich/Wiseman team
By
Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
When this most recent weekend of two nights
of racing was completed, horses owned all or in part by Scott Ehrlich had
wrapped up their second triple in less than a month.
Back on December 12 and 13, the Steve Wiseman
trained charges from the Ehrlich stable that were victorious were Northern
Stormont (Scott owns a third), Surprisingly Sweet (owned by Scott and wife
Lisa), and Put To The Test.
This past weekend, add Ideal Smile (Scott and
Lisa) to the list, and take out the unlucky Put To The Test, who arguably most
likely would have won had he not been blocked until late, then flew to be
second.
Shining most recently from their small stable
is the smallest of them all, Surprisingly Sweet, or “Sweet,” as she is
affectionately known. The 8-year-old
mare comes off a romping first-over five-length victory in 1:52 4/5 versus all
boys in the Open lll this past Saturday.
How Scott acquired her, and what he has done to keep her, have made for
a nice love story that extends not only to humans, but to other equines.
“In the fall of 2013, my family and I made
our annual trip to New England,” noted Scott.
“Mike Eaton and his wife, Belinda, who I met when through a mutual
friend when they visited Cal Expo in 2011, invited us to his farm to jog some
horses. I got to jog Ideal Smile, and expressed to Mike my fondness for him,
which I acquired when I saw him race at Cal Expo for Mike in 2012.
“Fast-forward about a month later when the
mutual friend calls me and tells me Mike likes a horse (Surprisingly Sweet) he
has in at Plainridge Racecourse, but only if he can get some pace in the race
because she drew post eight. I download
the program and determine there’s no pace in the race, so I didn’t bet. Of course she wins, while three-wide most of
the last half, circling the field at 11-1.
“Fast forward another month when Mike calls
me. The other
owner (Bob Mc Hugh) of Smile didn’t want to pay the cost of wintering him
during the five month off time, so Mike wanted to know if I was interested,
which I was. He also mentioned he had
this mare named Surprisingly Sweet, also co-owned by Mc Hugh, that he didn’t
want to winter.
“I had completely forgotten about her, and
told Mike I’d review her races on video, and call him the next day. When I saw the race where she circled the
field, the light bulb went off on who she was and how great she closed. Combine that race with very similar closes in
races before that, along with the fact that I love closers, plus she’d now be
on the mile track at Cal Expo, and it was a no-brainer to include her, thus we
agreed to ‘throw her’ in to the deal.”
The move by the Ehrlich’s has certainly paid
off as their little girl has raced 65 of her next 70 starts for them, recording
17 wins, 16 seconds, and 5 thirds, with earning in excess of $50,000. This past summer, however, something happened
that they didn’t expect.
“She got claimed,” Scott related. “She’s an Indiana bred, and I sent her to
Hoosier Park with Rick Plano, who did well with her, and also, given the racing style
at Hoosier, changed her (and Put To The Test) from being a one-move closer into
a two-move closer. When
they announced she was being claimed, my heart sank. Not so much because of my feelings for her,
but because Kathie Wiseman and Sweet have a love affair with each other.
“Perry Smith claimed her and put her right
back in for the same $5,000 tag. There
was another claim on her that night, but we won the shake. In her next race, which was the same class, I
put her in for $6,000 instead of $5,000.
“Sure enough, she got claimed again. I figured for sure I’d never have her
again. As luck would have it, she was
now being trained by Walter Haynes Jr.
Junior and I have good history with each other, as he drove and won with
horses I had at Balmoral, The Red Mile, and Thunder Ridge.
“I called him and told him how much
she meant to my family, and my trainers wife, Kathie, and that I’d be very
interested to buy her back after a series at Hoosier. He suggested I call one of the owners, Brian
Carsey. I did, and explained to Brian
how much she meant to us. Brian
immediately said we could buy her back after the series was over. I can’t tell you how grateful I was that
Brian was so accommodating. He showed a
lot of class, especially about how much she meant to my family, and that means
a ton to me.”
As
mentioned earlier, Sweet has two love affairs going. “Kathie Wiseman and Sweet are crazy about
each other,” Ehrlich noted. “ There’s no doubt about two things. One, that Steve Wiseman knows exactly what
Sweet needs, training wise. And two,
care and love wise, there’s no doubt that Kathie makes Sweet a very happy
girl.”
But
there’s also another cog to this wheel, his name is Jimmy Shin, a 12-year-old
trotter also trained by Wiseman. “Steve
calls me one day in early April of 2014 and asks me to call Mike Eaton to ask
how Sweet and Jimmy got along. Steve had
just claimed Jimmy, who at one time was also trained by Eaton.
“I
asked why. He informed me that when he
turned out Jimmy in their paddock ring, that he’d just stand right in front of
her stall, as they stared at each other, while Sweet went crazy, squealing and
nickering. Then when he put her in the
ring, she’d stare at him and Jimmy would go just as crazy from his stall.
“ I called Eaton and barely got out the words
‘when you had Sweet and Jimmy,’ and he interrupts and say, ‘they were totally
crazy about each other, inseparable.’
Now think about this! They’re
3,000 miles away from where they met, plus they haven’t seen one another
for roughly six months. Yet they
instantly knew each other!”
It
should come as no surprise when they shipped to and from Running Aces, that
Kathie Wiseman, to keep them busy, had them next to each other on the
transporting, not to mention side by side in their stalls at the two tracks.
“Words
can’t express how grateful we are of the fantastic job Steve, Kathie and their
daughter Tyler, and their crew do with the horses they take care of. We’re very
lucky,” finished Scott.
This has
turned out to be a sweet story all the way around.
Party Hangover Two, Secret Alibi do
battle
Party Hangover Two, who
finished up 2015 with nine wins from her 15 trips to the post; and Secret
Alibi, who has the conditioning edge over her main rival, get the marquee
treatment in Saturday night’s featured $5,000 Open II Pace for fillies and
mares.
The main event will go as
the fifth on the 13-race Watch and Wager LLC card with a first post of 6:10 p.m. The trotting and pacing action will
continue with a Sunday evening program.
Party Hangover Two is a
5-year-old daughter of Party At Artsplace who is owned by Kathleen Plested and
is reined and trained by Steve Wiseman. She comes into her 2016 debut with
$110,000 in her account and a 1:52 4/5 mark that was established over this
layout last season.
The bay mare was last seen
in evening action on December 12, digging in when it counted for Wiseman to
post a half-length decision under Open I Distaff conditions. She should be
right there no matter how things shake out early in this affair while leaving
from the assigned outside slot in the field of six.
Secret Alibi is a 7-year-old
daughter of The Panderosa who is owned by Heather Matthews with Luke Plano
doing the driving and training. She accounted for an Open III filly-mare event
on December 26 and was third versus males in her most recent trip to the post.
Secret Alibi is looking to
add to a $129,000 bankroll and has a 1:52 2/5 career mark that she set as a
sophomore. She figures to be up-close-and-personal from the outset for Plano with
this group.
Completing the field are
Part Time Lady, who gives the Wiseman barn two looks at the outcome; Place at
the Beach for Gerry Longo; La Madawna De Rosa from the Leon Smith shedrow; and
the Junior Wilkinson-trained Lady’s Art, who leaves from the cozy rail with
Chip Lackey giving directions.
