By
Mark Ratzky, publicity - Cal Expo Harness
One of the many four-legged
new faces here this season is Axle, a 4-year-old trotter who is making himself
very much at home since relocating from Minnesota and is fresh from getting his
picture taken last weekend.
Axle was claimed for $5,000
at Running Aces in August and has since won two of his four starts while
carrying the banner of Dave Siegel, Bob Thronson, Greg Robinson and George
Reider, with the latter handling training duties.
Axle clicked in his first
start for the new connections at Running Aces while equaling his lifetime mark
of 1:57 4/5 in the process. He met some tough types in his initial two outings
at this meet and then got some class relief last weekend and prevailed with
some aggressive handling by owner/driver Siegel.
“Dave Siegel picked this
horse out and I’ve always wanted to go in partnership with him and the
opportunity finally opened up,” Reider related when asked about the son of Hard
Rock N Roll. “I was actually at Hoosier Park, but I did have three horses at
Running Aces with my assistant trainer Kim Hines and we wired her the money and
she put in the claim.
“He got a great drive from
Mooney (Svendsen) and won in his first start for us back there, and he’s turned
in three good efforts since coming here. I thought he was real game the other
night for Dave and he certainly has the chance to get better. He was kind of a
nervous type when he first got here, but he’s settled down the last couple of
weeks and that’s very important with a trotter.”
Axle suits up Saturday night
in the Open 2 Handicap Trot, where the water gets deeper as he takes on the
likes of Alpine Hawk and Franks Best while leaving from the No. 3 slot with
Siegel back at the helm. He’ll definitely get a good test in that spot.
Series finales, Open
Trot headline program
Four California Harness
Legends late-closing pacing series finals and an Open 2 Trot headed by Alpine
Hawk and Franks Best are the main attractions on the 14-race program at the
Watch and Wager LLC meet at Cal Expo on Saturday night. A reminder that
beginning next week, the schedule here will switch to Friday and Saturday
action.
The first series finale is
the Mike Corley, which should find one of the heaviest favorites of the evening
in I O One. The 4-year-old son of Cambest races for Fabian and Edwin Alberto
Quevedo with Raul Escobedo the trainer and Luke Plano at the helm. I O One has
rewarded the chalkplayers at 6-5 and 1-2
through the first two legs while leaving little doubt on either occasion.
The Bill Conlin final has
Serious Art and Live A Little once again figuring to command most of the tote
attention after finishing one-two in the first two legs. Live A Little went
coast-to-coast for owner/trainer Bob Johnson and driver Mooney Svendsen opening
night, while Series Art was taking bows after their most recent meeting in a
game performance for owner/trainer Nathalie Tremblay and Luke Plano.
The Annette Funicello for
fillies and mares goes as race No. 11 on the evening. Windy City Paige is
looking to make a sweep of the three legs for owner Pamela Dunneback-Quirie,
trainer Richad Dunneback and pilot James Kennedy. The 8-year-old daughter of
Cole Muffler has made every pole a winning one in the opening two legs, most
recently holding safe by a head over a game Mystically Mine.
The Jim Dennis is headed by
Lust, who put on a furious finish from last in the second leg after leaving
from the demanding No. 10 post last weekend and won going away by three and a
half lengths. Wiseman guides the Williams Hernandez/Georgette Wenceslao
colorbearer, who just missed on opening week while also finishing powerfully.
The Open 2 Trot is a handicap
event that finds Racing Secretary Fred Kuebler assigning the outside two
positions to the hard-hitting Franks Best and Alpine Hawk. The latter leaves
from the extreme in the field of seven with Rich Wojcio at the controls, while
Franks Best does his work from the No. 6 post with Mooney Svendsen giving
directions.
Franks Best got the job done
at the head of the trotting division on opening week as the Bob Johnson owned,
trained and bred performer looped the field to score. Alpine Hawk had some
traffic troubles that evening, but had no such issues in their most recent
meeting and was able to turn the tables with Wojcio.
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