Pancetta, Bettermeboy
get the job done
By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
The team of owners Richard
Morita and David Yamada, trainer Lino Pacheco and leading driver Luke Plano
book-ended last Friday’s program here, taking the opener with Pancetta and the
nitecap with Bettormeboy.
“Those were nice wins for each horse,” Morita
related. “Pancetta is really coming around now, after very limited starts over
the past two seasons. Luke knows him best, and when Pancetta is right, he
can race with any of them.
“Leno Pacheco has done such a good job getting
Pancetta sound, and with each completed start, he is getting
stronger. The best is yet to come this summer, we hope. We are
going to race him at Hawthorne for the start of summer, and see how it goes
from there. He is superior on the turns, so a smaller track might be his
ultimate destination.”
Bettormeboy completed the double last week,
proving a punctual 6-5 favorite after attacking the leader first over on the
final bend and gamely prevailing by a neck.
“He found his game again, not coincidentally,
when reunited with Luke for that latest race,” his co-owner noted. “He was
really sharp a little earlier in the meet, but tailed off a bit. We gave him a
few easier starts, and he seems to be coming back on. That race was actually
much more like an Open III event or something, with the likes of V Mack and
Ragin's Flight in there.
“All of the horses that Dave and I own will be
headed to Chicago to race at Hawthorne. They have a lot of conditioned
races there, including a late-closer for our fast improving mare, Delightfully
Wild. Chip Lackey thought she might be a good fit there, so she will head
there this week to prepare for opening week, with the others to follow.
“Cal Expo is our home track, and we want to
support them as much as possible through the end of the racing meet.”
Plano cruising;
training title up for grabs
While Luke Plano long ago
wrapped up the driving title here, there is quite a battle going on for leading
trainer honors between Bob Johnson, Kathleen Plested and Lino Pacheco with just
two nights remaining.
Plano comes into closing
weekend with 141 snapshots from 585 trips to the post while sporting impressive
percentages in all the pertinent categories.
Meanwhile, Johnson has a
one-length lead over Plested in the trainer race with his 52 victories, while
she likewise has a one-victory advantage over Pacheco’s 50 entrances into the
charmed enclosure.
It’s certainly anybody’s
ballgame going into the Friday and Saturday programs, with each of those barns
being well represented.
Trotting Sire Stakes
commanding the spotlight
A pair of California Sire
Stakes for the 3 and 4-year-old trotters have center stage on Friday night at
Cal Expo, the penultimate card of the meeting.
First post will be 6:15 p.m.
for the Watch and Wager LLC program.
In the Sire Stakes for the
4-year-old trotters, My Little Susie is a daughter of Claudius Augustus out of
the S J’s Photo mare Sue’s Photo who races for A Piece of the Action LLC and is
conditioned by Gene Vallandingham
The hard-hitting mare has
accounted for all three of the added-money contests decided for this group in
2017, putting her class and versatility on display in the process while winning
on the front end and also getting the job done from a stalking position. She
will be tough no matter how things shake out on Friday.
Meanwhile, Gravel Girl moved
to the head of the sophomore trotting class with her stakes score last week for
owner/trainer George Luster and pilot Mooney Svendsen and looks to close out
the meeting in style.
The All in Tad filly made a
break in her debut the previous week, but was all business at most recent
asking as she sat the pocket to the lane and then ignited when it counted to
waltz home with four and three-quarter lengths to spare.
***
Saturday is closing night of
the harness meet here at Cal Expo and there will be mandatory payouts in all
wagers. Harness racing is scheduled to return on Saturday, October 28.
