Nick Roland figures to
make presence felt
By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Nick Roland is a new face on
the scene at Cal Expo, and you can look for him to be a frequent visitor to the
winner’s circle as evidenced by his three victories on opening night.
Including among those scores
was a win by Firedrake in the featured Open Pace from the demanding No. 10
post.
Roland shows up with several
driving and training titles to his credit at Running Aces, where he has plied
his trade since the Minnesota track debuted 10 years ago.
“My grandparents on both
sides have been involved in harness racing going back to the 1950s, and my
parents actually met at the racetrack,” said the 35-year-old native of Iowa
City, Iowa.
Despite the fact his parents
Royal and Lisa are also involved in the sport, they insisted that Nick get his
college degree and he found himself working in the insurance business following
his graduation.
“I was miserable and after
one year I had to come back to the racetrack,” he explained. “It was at that
point that my sister Tessa and I showed up at that first Running Aces meet with
a few horses that we or our family owned.”
It’s been a slow building
process for Roland, but he eventually got to the position where he had owners
knocking on his door and the ability to expand the stable to the point where he
has led the meeting as both a driver and a trainer.
“I’ve been very fortunate to
have some great owners over the years and they give me the freedom to do what I
want.”
While Nick normally has raced
at Prairie Meadows and the Iowa fairs following the end of the Running Aces
meet, this year the decision was made to come out and give Cal Expo a try.
“We’ve got 20 horses and
that’s just about the right number,” Roland explained. “I couldn’t do it with
my girlfriend Jessica Johnson and my right hand man Terry Kauffman, and so far
so good.”
In addition to piloting his
own performers, Nick is looking forward to competing in as many races as
possible as a catch driver. That should result in a lot of pictures.
Pair of Opens get the
marquee treatment
An Open Pace headed by
Firedrake and a Distaff Open that provides a rematch between Capitol Hill and
Lil Miss Knuckles are the main attractions on Saturday night’s Watch and Wager
LLC program at Cal Expo.
There will be 10 races
decided with first post at 6:10 p.m.
Firedrake has been assigned
the outside slot among the six pacers set for the fifth race as he seeks a
repeat score for owner Set The Pace Racing LLC and driver-trainer Nick Roland.
A 4-year-old son of Dragon
Again from the Artsplace mare Everything’s Easy, Firedrake proved a punctual
4-5 favorite in his Cal Expo debut on opening night. From the difficult No. 10
post position, he was hard used to the early lead before being covered up, then
re-rallied in the drive to prevail by a neck over Ragin’s Flight in a 1:53 3/5
mile.
Set to line up inside him on
Saturday are the Kathie Plested-traned pair of Jazzmanian Devil and Ragin’s
Flight; Almost Cut My Hair from the Bob Johnson barn; and the Richard Remillard
reined-and-trained Baylor Out.
Lil Miss Knuckles and Capitol
Hill get another chance to settle the score in the Filly and Mare Open after
finishing one-two in last week’s clash at the head of the class in this
division.
Lil Miss Knuckles posted a
12-1 surprise in that affair for owner Fabiola Quevedo, trainer Edwin Quevedo
and pilot William Hernandez, getting the job done by three-quarters of a length
over Capitol Hill.
The latter is a Badlands
Hanover mare who goes about her business for George McCrystal and trainer
Kathie Plested and lost a tough one last week after going a first-over journey.
Steve Wiseman guides. Capitol Hill departs from the outside post in the field
of seven with Lil Miss Knuckles just to her inside. Blue Note, Coastal
Treasure, La Madawna De Rosa, Moonshinenmonkeys and Smash round out the field.
