Curtain goes up on Cal
Expo harness meet
By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
The 2017-2018 Watch and Wager
LLC harness meeting at Cal Expo gets under way Saturday night with a pair of
Open Pace events headlining the card.
First post for the 13-race
program is 6:10 p.m. There will be Saturday racing this week and beginning next
week there will be Friday and Saturday night action on tap.
The seventh race on the card
is a $6,600 Open Pace with a full cast of 10 set to face the starter, while a
half-dozen fillies and mares are set for the fourth race co-feature.
“Fans can look forward to a
number of new faces this season,” said Cal Expo general manager Chris Schick.
“The talented Nick Roland stable is in from the Midwest, and the in the next
few weeks we can expect to see Ryan Grundy, Gary Clarke, Richard Remillard and
Rene Goulet from Canada.
“This new dynamic should
provide a highly competitive product with good wagering value.”
Speaking of Nick Roland, he
will be well represented in the co-featured seventh race with Firedrake coming
in from Running Aces and Cowboy Mathis shipping in from Hawthorne to represent
his shedrow.
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Saturday’s action will
include a simulcast of the full Breeders Crown program from Hoosier Park in Indiana.
Watch and Wager LLC is pleased to announce that Jenn Bongiorno has joined the broadcast team here at Cal Expo.
Jenn will team with Hall of Famer Gary Seibel with nightly analysis of the popular Cal Expo Pick-4. She will replace Dave Brower, who has returned to the Meadowlands on a full time basis.
Jenn is fourth generation harness racing, as her great uncle was Stanley Dancer and her grandfather was Harold “Sonny” Dancer. After graduating from Monmouth University with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing,
Bongiorno started working at Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment in New Jersey, where she was marketing coordinator, handling the social media and was also a member of the on-air talent.
After five and a half-years, Jenn left the Meadowlands this April as she began to own more horses. “I felt I was more focused on them and wanted to take a more hands on approach with them. I received my trainers license in June and have a stable of 15 horses that my brother and I run together. I race primarily at Yonkers Raceway.
“I’m absolutely loving being a trainer. It's more work than I ever could have imagined, but every morning when I walk into the barn, I feel a sense of passion and love that I've never felt. I said after winning my first race, I never felt that level of gratification before.
“The TV portion of my job definitely became my favorite part at the Meadowlands and is something I truly miss, which is why when Watch and Wager presented me with this opportunity, I absolutely could not turn it down!”
“I'm so looking forward to following Cal-Expo racing and giving the fans my handicapping opinions. Harness racing is such a great sport and through TV, I've gotten to interact with so many fans via social media and look forward to doing the same with the Cal-Expo fan base.”
"We were so impressed with Jenn's work at the Meadowlands" said Chris Schick, General Manager of Cal Expo harness.
"Her knowledge and passion for our sport is very evident. We also want to publicly thank Dave Brower, and wish him well on his return home to the Meadowlands. Dave has agreed to make appearances to keep the California fans up to date on trends at the Meadowlands.”
