MORITA, YAMADA
ENJOYING THE RIDE
By
Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
One And Only is on a
roll at the moment, coming off a wire job at the head of the class, and owners
Richard Morita and David Yamada are having a great time watching this pacer do
his thing.
One And Only has
accounted for two of his last three appearances under the watchful eye of
trainer Lino Pacheco and the confident guidance of Scott Cisco and his 1:53 3/5
score on January 25 was just a tick off the career standard he established here
last season.
Morita and Yamada
purchased the son of Bettor’s Delight two years ago as an unraced 3-year-old
from the Meadowlands sale, despite the fact that he had made breaks in both his
qualifiers over the half-mile Freehold oval.
“We liked his
breeding, in fact his dam is a daughter of the great racemare Galleria, and
took a chance,” Morita explained. “One And Only has developed into a really
nice racehorse and is very versatile, comfortable on both the front end and
coming off the pace.”
It was a runner-up
effort to the hard-hitting Pancetta in a 1:51 1/5 tour back in late December
that really impressed his connections. “That race really opened our eyes with
One And Only closing very fast. Lino has been very patient, bringing him along
slowly and allowing him time to develop. I don’t believe anyone works harder to
get the most out of his horses.”
Morita also
credits his partner Yamada with their success on the racetrack. “David is very
active in looking over horses and making decisions as we approach each sale. We
have been extremely fortunate and really enjoy watching our horses here at Cal
Expo. We are hopeful that our racing here in California will continue for
everyone.
OPEN HANDICAP LURES
ONE AND ONLY
A $6,000 Open
Handicap Pace is the feature on Saturday night’s Watch and Wager LLC program at
Cal Expo and finds One And Only seeking his third snapshot from his last four
trips to the post.
A 5-year-old son of
Bettor’s Delight from the Western Hanover mare Gallie Too with a 1:53 3 2/5
mark, One And Only carries the banner of Richard Morita and David Yamada with
Liberio Pacheco the conditioner and Scott Cisco handling the lines. He has
fired bullets in all four of his starts this season and deserves the nod in a
contentious cast.
One And Only was
nailed right on the money by Saturday rival Haggin Oaks on January 6, then came
back three weeks later to get the job done on the front end. He was third in a
blanket finish at next asking after doing all the heavy lifting, then got back
to the winner’s circle last weekend after being perfectly rated on the lead by
Cisco and coming home with a length and a quarter to spare over Amigo De
Garcia.
The latter races for
Robert Bacon and William Condon and is reined and trained by Steve Wiseman. The
Little Steven gelding is closing in on the $100,000 earnings plateau and sports
a 1:53 4/5 lifetime standard that was established last year at Running Aces. He
worked out a pocket trip two back and surged when it counted to get the job
done, then tracked One And Only in last week’s outing and had to settle for the
exacta completion.
Haggin Oaks is a
hard-knocking daughter of Hi Ho Silverheels with $120,000 in the bank and a
1:53 2/5 mark that was set here two years ago. James Kennedy drives and trains
the mare for Shari Burns, Ferris Funk and Gerald Cimini and she has clicked
twice from four starts this season and is always a major threat with her best
mile.
Oompa Loompa put
together an impressive string of victories earlier in the meet while steadily
climbing the class ladder for owner Kc Carvalho and trainer Tim Brown, with a
third and a fourth-place finish in his last pair when moving up to the top
ranks. Completing the line-up are Lady’s Art and Doc’s Zippy.
