By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
There
are three wagers offered here each night with a reduced 16 percent takeout
rate, including the 50-cent Pick 5 that was hit by a single ticket last
Saturday night to the tune of $8,773 with another 60 cents tossed in for good
measure.
To
put this in perspective, if the regular takeout had been in place, the payoff
would have been $7,832, with $941 less going into the winning player’s pocket.
The other bets with the 16 percent takeout here are the 20-cent Pick 4, which
comes with a $20,000-guaranteed pool on Friday and a $25,000 guarantee on
Saturday; and the 10-cent Hi-Five on the nightcap.
Taking
a closer look at last Saturday’s Pick 5 sequence, the handicapper did a pretty
good job when you consider that favorites blanked in the sequence, which was
decided over a sloppy racetrack.
Doc’s
Zippy set the tone when he won the featured Open Pace for trainer George
Anthrop and regular pilot Patrick Galbraith, upsetting the classy 1-5 Pancetta,
who had the demanding No. 10 post in his first evening appearance of the year.
Chalk it up as the third straight big effort from Doc’s Zippy and a solid
return for Pancetta.
Most
bettors probably felt the classy returnee Fort Valley As and the repeat-seeking
Hellogottagobuybye were the way to go in the Open Trot that followed, but
Sharpshootennorris had other ideas and parlayed a pocket trip into a 12-1 upset
for Steve Wiseman.
Native
Country and Tim Maier got the job done at 7-2 some 20 minutes later, while it
was Wiseman again in the following as Lodi Nickolus made it look easy at $7.80
in a Trotting event.
While
it had already been difficult to get to the final leg, making things even more
complicated was the fact that this looked to be the most wide-open race of the
sequence. When all was said and done, it was Wiseman posing for pictures once
again with the aptly-named Quick On My Feet.
Distaff Pace, Open Trot head the
marquee
A
Filly and Mare Open Pace headed by Show Runner and Haggin Oaks and an Open Trot
the brings out the likes of Franks Best, Fort Valley As and Hellogottagobuhbye
share the spotlight at Cal Expo on Friday.
Show
Runner comes into the Distaff Open have ended up in the winner’s circle
following 22 of her last 37 trips to the post. The Little Steven mare, now
racing under the banner of A Piece Of The Action LLC, is trained and driven by
Tim Maier
The
bay mare was a dominating winner of the January 31 Open, then did not see
evening action again until last weekend. Sent off the 1-2 favorite in that
affair, she went coast-to-coast in a sparkling 1:52 4/5 performance with Luke
Plano at the controls. She has been assigned the No. 10 post by Racing
Secretary Fred Kuebler for this go-around.
The
Open Trot finds Franks Best, Hellogotagobuhbye and Fort Valley As vying for
favoritism after chasing home Sharpshootennorris in last weekend’s top dance
for the trotting set.
Franks Best is on the verge of reaching the $200,000
earnings mark for his owner/trainer/breeder Bob Johnson and will as usual have
Mooney Svendsen giving directions. He is looking for his first snapshot on the
season after finishing second in six of his nine trips to the post.
Hellogottagobuhbye
has been victorious in three of his last six starts for owner/driver Daniel
Maier and trainer Tim Maier and was fourth in his most recent attempt after
doing his work in first-over fashion from the 10 slot over the slop. He made
every pole a winning one on March 21 in impressive fashion.
Fort
Valley As is looking to make amends after making little impact at even-money
favorite in that last clash at the top rung in his first evening appearance
since early December. Jennifer Sabot owns, George Reider trains and Chip Lackey
pilots the son of Tom Ridge, who is looking to add to a $366,000 bankroll with
a 1:55 mark in tow.
