Avila Beach, Moonstone
Beach
Doing their dam proud
By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
It was a good weekend for
half-sisters Avila Beach and Moonstone Beach, as the former crushed a
conditioned crew in impressive fashion while Moonstone Beach accounted for the
first Sire Stakes of the season for the 3-year-old pacing fillies.
Both are Wayne and Rod
Knittel-owned and bred offspring of the Beach Towel mare Bj’s Beach Fire who
are trained by Bob Johnson and handled by main man Mooney Svendsen.
Avila Beach was involved in
one of the closest finishes we’re likely to see all meet in the first Sire
Stakes for the 4-year-old pacing distaffers on February 5, missing by a nose
while finishing third behind dead-heaters Smash and Speak English that evening.
She came back with a dominating overnight score and the barn is eagerly
awaiting the next stakes dance for a little revenge.
“She had to take all the
worst of it in that last stakes, coming first over against a couple of real
nice ones, and she just kept on trying in what turned out to be a great race,”
Johnson said. “I thought her win the other night was super, because she came
first up and then just drew off at the end.”
The 3-year-old Moonstone
Beach looks to be following in her half-sister’s footsteps, winning two of her
three starts including a solid score in the first stakes dance for her division
last weekend.
“She’s still green, but she’s
an awfully nice filly and I really like the way she’s raced to this point. Her
first couple of starts set her up perfectly for the first stakes and she came
through.”
As far as comparing the two,
Johnson noted that while Avila Beach is on the skinny and somewhat frail side,
Moonstone Beach is completely different and a big, muscular filly.
Both have the same great
attitude, he added, which includes the will to get to the wire first.
Marvin Shapiro, Open
Pace headline marquee
The $7,700 Marvin Shapiro
Pace headed by Hi Ho Houdini and a $6,000 Open Pace featuring I’m An Athlete
are the main events on Saturday night’s Cal Expo program. First post for the
12-race card is 6:15 p.m.
Marvin Shapiro was the son of L.K. Shapiro, who owned the
Hall of Fame thoroughbred and California-bred champion Native Diver. He was the
president of Western Harness Racing Inc. in the 1960s and spearheaded
legislation that sanctioned night racing in California. He died in 2003 at the
age of 83.
Hi Ho Houdini should be tough in the Shapiro after picking up
his first Sire Stakes trophy two weeks ago. The son of Hi Ho Silverheel’s is
owned by Lujuanna Lopez with Gordie Graham the conditioner and Luke Plano once
again handling the lines.
Meanwhile, the Open Pace will find I’m An Athlete eying his
fourth straight trip to the winner’s circle while doing his work from the
assigned No. 10 post position. A 6-year-old son of Art Major out of the Cam’s Card
Shark mare Femal Champs, he is owned by Ronald Rettig-Zucchi and is reined and
trained by James Kennedy.
The hard-hitting performer
kicked off his hat trick in the January 23 Open over a “good” track, as he did
the track-and-attack to perfection for Kennedy and was driven out to a
two-length score that evening.
Wheeled back a week later at
the head of the pacing class, he once again played the role of stalker and
turned in a sparkling :26 1/5 final quarter to seal the deal and prevail by a
length and a half as the 3-2 favorite.
I’m An Athlete made his most
recent outing two weeks ago in the Open and once again proved a punctual
favorite. He sat next-to-last in that affair while some very snappy fractions
were being rattled off, then swooped in the stretch and won going away by a
length and a quarter while lowering his career standard to 1:51 2/5 in the
process.
