By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Ryan Grundy is off to a good
start to this meet, bringing down a solid group of performers from Canada who
are proving quite photogenic.
If the name Grundy sounds
familiar, it’s because Ryan is the 35-year-old great nephew of the late Jim
Grundy, a mainstay on this circuit for decades and one of the best
driver/trainers to every ply their trade in California.
“I grew up around the horses,”
Ryan related. “I was probably about 6 years old when I
knew this was what I
wanted to do.”
It was Jim Grundy’s brother,
Art, who was a mentor to Ryan. “My grandfather is the one who taught me
everything. He was very good at bringing young horses to the races and did all
his own shoeing, which I also do.”
Ryan struck out on his own in
his early 20’s, starting out on the fair circuit in Manitoba.
***
There are two wagers offered
here each night that come with a reduced 16 percent takeout rate. They are the
50-cent Pick 5, which is decided on the first five races on the evening; and
the 20-cent Pick 4 on the penultimate four races. The Pick 4 comes with a
guaranteed gross pool that has now been raised to $30,000.
Scary Harry heads
contentions pacing feature
A well-matched field is set
for Friday night’s $4,400 pacing headliner at Cal Expo, with Alan Horowitz
Memorial runner-up Scary Harry, the hard-knocking Eastender and the classy One
And Only among the major players.
There will be 12 races on tap
Friday evening under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post set for
6:10 p.m. There are another 12 events scheduled for Saturday night.
A good case can be made for
almost all of the participants in the main event, with Scary Harry likely to
have his share of supporters off four straight solid miles since coming in from
Hoosier Park.
The 5-year-old Sportswriter
gelding is owned, trained and driven by Chip Lackey and is coming off a tough
head loss as the 3-2 favorite in last week’s $20,000 Horowitz after clearing
late in the mile. In his previous tour, he flew home in :27 flat to prevail in
an elimination heat with a 1:53 3/5 final clocking.
Eastender should be nice and
tight after a solid runner-up finish under these conditions after some traffic
issues last week. Luke Plano reins and trains the son of Cheyenne Rei for
Maryann Plano and Nikki Hudson and he closed out his Running Aces campaign this
season with a lifetime-best 1:53 2/5 tour of the Minnesota oval.
One And Only is the richest
member of the cast with his $260,000 bank account and sports a 1:51 2/5 career
standard that was set in Pennsylvania three years ago. The veteran goes about
his business for Richard Morita and David Yamada with Jessie Pacheco the
conditioner and is making his first evening appearance since late August at
Hawthorne.
Completing the field from the
rail out: Sapient Hanover with Sean Smithpeters; Senga Nitro for Ryan Grundy;
Dupage’s Z Tam, Nick Roland; Dontdoubtthelakers with James Kennedy; and
Swagasaurusrex, who will be guided by trainer Gerry Longo.
