PANCETTA EYES ENCORE FROM OUTSIDE SLOT
By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Pancetta, who made his Cal Expo debut a winning one in last week’s top dance for the pacers, looks to keep the momentum going as he takes on six rivals while leaving from the outside post in Saturday evening’s $5,000 Open Pace. First post for the Watch and Wager LLC meet is 5:55 p.m.
A 3-year-old son of No Pan Intended out of the Life Sign mare Gingerbread Square, Pancetta carries the banner of Richard Morita and David Yamada with Liberio Pacheco the conditioner and he is looking for his sixth win from just 14 lifetime appearances, all of them coming this season.
A 1:52 4/5 winner at Tioga Downs in August, the bay colt was sent off the 6-5 choice in his local bow last weekend with Luke Plano in the sulky. He sat a stalking trip to the stretch, then came with the fastest final quarter of the evening in :27 1/5 to seal the deal by a length and quarter over Sensationalist.
The latter is a 5-year-old son of Cambest who hails from the Dario Solares shedrow and sports a 1:52 standard that was established in September. He carved out much of the pace as the close second choice in his local bow and could not quite match Pancetta when push came to shove in what should prove to be a solid tightener.
Rounding out the cast are the classy mare Haggin Oaks from the James Kennedy barn; the George Anthrop-trained Doc’s Zippy; Zander Massimo, another Solores trainee; Ivegotwhatuneed for Bob Johnson; and One And Only, who gives trainer Pacheco two looks at the outcome.
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A reminder that there is a 50 cent Pick 5 beginning with the third race, a $1 Pick 4 with a guaranteed gross pool of $25,000 starting on the 10th race and a 10 cent Super High 5 conducted on the finale.
Each of these wagers feature a reduced 16 percent takeout rate and will have carryovers if there is no winning ticket. On Saturday night, the $1 Pick 4 returned a whopping $10,500, so jump right in because the pool is great.
ANTHROP BARN HITS GROUND TROTTING, PACING
Trainer George Anthrop got off to a good start on opening week, reporting to the winner’s circle with two of his five Eastern invaders with Mike Jarvis at the controls and he’s looking forward to several more photo sessions before all is said and done.
The 57-year-old conditioner is 48-for-212 on the season while sporting a solid .326 UTRS and in his career has recorded 617 victories while closing in on the $2 million mark in earnings.
“I brought out eight horses, and I expect another dozen to be coming in shortly from Colonial and Indiana Downs,” Anthrop related. “The last time I didn’t ship out here until March and because we went from the cold to the warm weather, a lot of them got sick There was also some bad luck along the way and they didn’t really start racing well until the end of the meet".
“This time we’re coming out earlier and hoping to get off to a better start. It was certainly nice to get a couple of wins right off the bat and we’re looking forward to having some fun here.”
George points out the horses that are showing up under his care have been chosen specifically for the mile track. “In general, we’re talking about trotters and pacers who do their best on a bigger track. I also expect that the overall quality of the barn will pick up after some of the others get here.”
During the course of the discussion, Anthrop was surprised to hear that he was on the verge of reaching the $2 million plateau in earnings for his trainees. “I just have one question,” he said. “Where did all that money go?”
