PICK 5 CARRYOVER, GUARANTEED 25K POOL
By
Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
A Pick 5 carryover of over $6,600 with a guaranteed
pool of $25,000 will share the spotlight with an Open 3 Pace for the sophomores
at the Watch and Wager LLC meet at Cal Expo Friday evening.
The 50-cent Pick 5 is conducted on the third through
seventh races and features a reduced 16 percent takeout rate. Each night, the
16-percent takeout is also offered on the $1 Pick 4, which covers the penultimate
four races on the card; and the 10-cent High 5 that takes place on the finale.
In addition to coming with the reduced 16 percent
takeout rate, the Pick 4 has a $20,000-guaranteed pool on Fridays and a $25,000
guarantee on Saturday. The Pick 4, Pick 5 and High 5 each feature 100 percent
carryover provisions.
The headliner on the 15-race program is the $4,000
Open 3 Pace for sophomores that goes as the second event on the card. Lebo
Jones and Bit Player have accounted for the last two California Sire Stakes for
the pacing males and get a rematch in this affair.
Lebo Jones is a homebred son of Wicked Island who
races for Frank Nevarez, takes his lessons from Gordie Graham and will once
again have Scott Cisco giving directions. He was registering the first victory
of his nine-race career when he got the job done in last week’s stakes dance.
Sent off at 8-1 in that contest, Lebo Jones sat last
of the six at the half through a :57 2/5 split. Cisco had to wheel the Nevarez
colorbearer extremely wide off the far turn, took aim on the leaders at
midstretch and won going away by a length and a quarter for not only his maiden
breaker, but a trophy earner.
Bit Player is a multiple stakes winner who races for
Team Desomer with Steve Wiseman and was runner-up as the 6-5 choice in last
week’s clash. Completing the field are Twin B Heartland (Luke Plano), Miracles
Needed (Chip Lackey), A Real Miracle (Rich Wojcio), Strings (Bruce Clarke) and
Me Tarzan (Tim Maier).
The co-feature on the program is a $4,000 contest
for trotters that brings together a solid group of sidewheelers and will occupy
the third-race slot on the card.
ALPINE HAWK BACK WHERE HE
BELONGS
If the veteran
trotter Alpine Hawk is on the lead on the final bend and you hook him, you
better get by before the field hits the stretch because he’s going to make you
pay once straightened for home.
That’s exactly
what happened last weekend, as Rich Wojcio put the 12-year-old Gordie Graham
trainee on the engine from the start, took a major challenge turning for home
and then showed his class through the lane to prevail by a length and a quarter
in a sharp 1:57 performance.
It was the first
tally in an abbreviated four starts this season for Alpine Hawk, who last year
posed for pictures with Wojcio following 11 of his 22 appearances. The final
clocking was just a tick off his mark and he is now less than nine grand short
of reaching the $200,000 earnings plateau.
“It was nice to
have him race so well and win again,” said Wojcio of the Jim Winske
colorbearer. “He is just a real nice, kind horse to be around. He’s been with
us so long, he’s actually more like a family dog now. In many ways, he’s
actually trained us.
“Meredith has
done everything for him, which I believe has helped him be such a good
racehorse. He isn’t the type of horse to get too excited about much, but he
knows when it’s time to race and shows up each and every time.”
Alpine Hawk will
suit up once again in Friday night’s co-featured third race, where he will face
several other hard-knocking trotters as he continues that quest to get to the
$200,000 plateau. One night at a time.
