Team Desomer rings up at hat trick
with Charlotte’s Web
By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Steve
and Vicki Desomer sent out three winners on last Sunday night’s card, with all
three being trotters out of the champion Website mare Charlotte’s Web.
The
3-year-old Claudius Augustus filly Kissed The Boys kicked things off by
springing a $68 upset in the first leg of the Alan Kirschenbaum Series in the
second race on the program with Steve at the controls.
It
was the 7-year-old British Sterling mare Silverlode accounting for the next
event as the 6-5 favorite under the 79-year-old Desomer’s direction, while
Kissed The Boys’ 4-year-old full brother Cadet capped off the
barn/driver/broodmare hat trick two races later while returning $9.60 to his
backers.
“It
was a fun night, to be sure,” Vickie related after posing for pictures. “Steve
said that the Charlotte’s Webs go the same on an off track as they do on a fast
track – strong but not very fast.”
Vickie
related she had a little talk with her husband after he guided Cadet to his
victory for his third trip to the charmed enclosure on the program. “I
suggested this might be a good time to retire. You can guess his answer.”
Kissed
The Boys was the only member of the cast making her debut in last week’s
Kirschenbaum opener and was pretty game getting the job done over a sloppy
track.
“We
named her in honor of my mother, who passed away last year,” Vickie explained.
“She used to like to recite that ditty about Georgie Porgie, who ‘Kissed the
girls and made them cry’”.
The
Desomers also have a 2-year-old full brother to Kissed The Boys and Cadet named
Gold Run that could make some noise by the end of the this season. “He’s
Minnesota stakes eligible and Steve likes him,” Vickie noted.
There
is also a yearling colt by Claudius Augustus and she is back in foal to that
sire.
Our
favorite track historian Robin Clements gives us the backstory on Charlotte’s
Web.
“Charlottes Web herself was the
2 yr old trotting filly champion. The week before her first 3-year-old
stakes race she raced in a race on a very sloppy track. Before the sixteenth
pole Charlotte made a break and spotted the field about 15 lengths before she
got back on the trot.
“At about the three-eighths
pole she made another break spotting the field about 20 lengths before she
again got back on the trot, going into the final turn
“She was behind by about eight
lengths when she started pacing and Steve had to knock her off stride to get
her back trotting again. Again she is about 12 lengths off the leaders by the
time she got trotting again and she not only caught the field, but won the race.
“I recall there was a bridge
jumper who had bet $18,000 to show on her that night. I took care of Charlotte
when she raced that night and I remember right after the race the other
grooms and I were talking in awe of what she had just done.
“Charlotte went sore before the
3-year-old stakes races and was retired and sent to the breeding shed.”
The rest, as they say, is
history.
Contentious
field set for featured Open Pace
Bettor’s Promise, One And Only and Jazzmanian Devil,
who all chased home the razor-sharp mare Stable Eyes at most recent asking, get
away from that rival and head the cast for Saturday night’s $6,000 Open I Pace.
There
will be 13 races contested under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post
set for 6:15 p.m. and the main event goes as the third event on the evening.
The trotters and pacers will also be in action on Sunday evening.
Bettor’s
Promise and One And Only are both owned by Richard Morita and David Yamada and
take their lessons from Lino Pacheco. The former is a 5-year-old son of
Bettor’s Delight who leaves from the outside post in the field of six and has
Gerry Longo in the sulky.
Bettor’s
Promise accounted for the Open I Pace on December 12 off a pocket journey for
Tony Succarotte in a lifetime-best 1:53 clocking. He has two seconds and a
fourth-place finish in the interim, including an exacta completion behind the
aforementioned Stable Eyes when last seen two weeks ago.
One And Only is an 8-year-old who is also by Bettor’s
Delight and he comes into this assignment on the verge of going over the
$200,000 earnings mark with a 1:51 2/5 standard that was established two years
ago. He scored back-to-back victories here to close out his 2015 campaign.
He
missed by head to Jazzmanian Devil after a game, first-over trip on January 2,
then carved out the pace and had to settle for third behind Stable Eyes and
barnmate Bettor’s Promise in his last trip to the post.
Completing
the field are Jazzmanian Devil from the Steve Wiseman barn; the Luke
Plano-conditioned Cowboy Cold; Endeavors King from the Gene Vallandingham
shedrow and I’m An Athlete from the rail for James Kennedy.
