Siegel among those
braving the elements
By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Last weekend saw some pretty
wild weather here at Cal Expo and David Siegel was one of the drivers right in
the middle of it, making winner’s circle appearances on Saturday with Moon Is
on Fire and Outlawdangruswatrs.
“This past weekend’s conditions
were perhaps the most challenging I have faced in my short career,” said
Siegel, whose day job is as President of TrackMaster.
“For openers, what can make things
really dicey is the physical condition of the track. The drivers agreed that
the track crew did an outstanding job with the surface both nights. Given those
conditions, we did not see how the track could be better prepared.
“During the race, the most
challenging aspect of driving is visibility and hearing. The winds on Saturday
made hearing difficult. Every driver has his own methods for dealing with
visibility. I happen to use special moto-cross goggles which look really funny,
but they allow me to see pretty well which helps me feel safely confident.”
Siegel also pointed out that
preparation is a key when driving any race, especially one where the weather
and track conditions add to the variables.
“A sharp driver will look at a horse’s lines or ask the trainer
about how the horse is on an off-track as some really like it, and some perform
predictably poorly. In addition, how the wind is blowing also plays a major
role in strategy. It is logical that into a head wind you would prefer to draft
and certainly not be in front.
“On the flip side, if you are not near the lead in a fierce
stretch head wind like we had on Saturday, you have little chance to gain much
ground. So while that matters for the last quarter, it affects how you think
about position throughout the race.”
Stan Bergstein Trot,
Sire Stakes head marquee
The $10,000 Stan Bergstein
Trot, which finds Northern Stormont seeking his sixth straight victory, and a
$15,000 California Sire Stakes for 3-year-old trotters featuring My Little
Susie are center stage Sunday at Cal Expo. First post is 5:05 p.m.
Northern Stormont is razor
sharp right now and strictly the one to beat in the Stan Bergstein. A
5-year-old son of Earl Of Stormont, he races for George McCrystal, Mark Kremen
and Scott Ehrlich with Steve Wiseman reining and training.
Northern Stormont has used
his powerful late kick to make five straight trips to the charmed enclosure,
with the last three seeing the Wiseman charge overcoming the assigned No. 10
post position. He lands the rail for Sunday’s assignment.
Looking at the Sire Stakes,
My Little Susie is a daughter of Claudius Augustus from the S J’s Photo mare
Sue’s Photo, My Little Susie carries the banner of A Piece Of The Action LLC
with Gene Vallandingham the conditioner and Chip Lackey is his usual spot in
the sulky.
After a couple of needed
efforts to start the year, the bay miss has been perfect in her last three
trips to the post and has been putting her versatility on display in the course
of those victories.
My Little Susie started her
streak by going coast-to-coast in the finale of the Alan Kirschenbaum series,
then accounted for the first stakes dance of the season for this group on
February 14 with a come-from-behind score.
Sent off the 3-5 choice for
the most recent stakes get-together two weeks ago, she did not disappoint her
many backers as she sat the pocket trip to the stretch for Lackey and then drew
off by four lengths while lowering her career standard to 1:57 2/5 in the
process.
