By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Hats off to the mares Sparkin
Your Fire and Blue Note, who has their pictures taken in back-to-back races
here last Friday evening.
The Filly and Mare Open has
developed into one of the most contentious divisions on the grounds, and
Sparkin Your Fire has now captured three of these events at this session. The
6-year-old goes about her business for owner Peg Hoffman and driver/trainer
Gerry Longo.
Because she had been settling
for nibbles of late and had an outside post, Sparkin Your Fire was dismissed at
a juicy 26-1 last week and was ultra-game getting the job done in first-over
fashion in a 1:54 3/5 mile.
Longo, by the way, is still
going strong at age 72 and has now made 2,827 trips to the charmed enclosure in
his career with nearly $12.5 million in earnings.
Speaking of veterans, less
than half an hour after that race, the 13-year-old Blue Note suited up for
owner/trainer Rick Cisco and pilot Luke Plano and got the job done in
coast-to-coast fashion.
This daughter of Little
Steven has earned her $129,000 bank account the old-fashioned way with a 1:54
1/5 mark that was set here last season and she continues to display the desire
to show the way home.
Cisco has done a great job
keeping this mare on her game and she has certainly become a fan favorite,
especially when she turns in performances like she did last week.
Filly and Mare Open
atop the marquee
A $5,500 Filly and Mare Open
Pace headlines Friday night’s Cal Expo program with last week’s upset victress
Sparkin Your Fire attempting a curtail call.
Five different distaffers
have been victorious in the last seven Filly and Mare Opens, and last week it
was Sparkin Your Fire who prevailed for driver/trainer Gerry Longo while
rewarding her backers to the tune of $55 in that mile.
It was actually the third win
in the Distaff Open at this meet for the 6-year-old daughter of Duneside Perch,
who goes about her business for owner Peg Hoffman. She was very game getting it
done in last week’s clash, used early for position from an outside post and
then coming first-over for Longo to seal the deal by three-quarters of a
length.
Capitol Hill was her most
immediate victim in that contest and sports a decision at this level back on
November 25. The Badlands Hanover mare is owned by George McChrystal and Kathie
Plested with Plested the conditioner and Steve Wiseman handling the lines.
Two weeks ago, it was
Delightfully Wild and Melodies That Rock who dead-heated for the top spot at
this rung. The former was accounting for her third straight tally at this
level, while Melodies That Rock was parlaying an upset victory in the Robert
Gordon final.
Delightfully Wild races for
Richard Morita and David Yamada with Lino Pacheco training and Luke Plano
driving and had her work cut out last week leaving from the outside slot in the
field of nine and having to come from well back.
Melodies That Rock is by
Rockin Image and carries the banner of Brittney Nichole Thigpin with William
Hernandez reining and training. She was 27-1 when she captured the Gordon with
Chip Lackey doing the honors that evening. Shark Festival rounds out the field
for owners Medinah Racing and Scott Ehrlich with Kathie Plested training and
Mooney Svendsen guiding from the rail.
