By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
The first two times James
Kennedy guided Dougs Hobby Horse for Rick Bertrand didn’t turn out so well,
with the mare making breaks on both occasions, but the third time was the charm
as they teamed up for a decisive victory in last week’s Gary Budahn Trot.
“It was just a case of some
bad luck in those first two starts,” Kennedy noted. “She has a tendency to run
in and in the first one she just didn’t have enough room and jumped it off. The
next time the gate was a little too slow and she made a break at the start.”
There were certainly no such
troubles in the Budahn Final, as Kennedy was able to leave alertly with Dougs
Hobby Horse from their cozy rail draw to push the early issue, settled into a
tracking trip behind favored Silverlode and then ignited in the stretch for the
four-length score.
“I know she had the early
speed to take advantage of the inside post and I pushed her out of there to get
a good position,” Kennedy said. “She was on her game, and my only concern was
to take her out a bit on the turn to make sure she had plenty of room.”
This was the third win from
five starts at the meet for Dougs Hobby Horse, who races for Bertrand and her
namesake and breeder Doug Flores. She established her lifetime mark of 1:56 1/5
when she captured a conditioned event here last month.
Interestingly, she is a
daughter of Claudius Augustus, who carried the banner of Gary Budahn during his
racing days, which included several impressive miles over this track.
“It was an honor to win a
race named after such an excellent vet and horseman as Gary Budahn,” Kennedy
said after posing for pictures in the winner’s circle.
Main event matches
pacing distaffers
A $6,600 Filly and Mare Open
Pace is the featured attraction on Friday night’s Watch and Wager LLC program
at Cal Expo with Delightfully Wild and Melodies That Rock getting top billing.
Delightfully Wild is a
5-year-old daughter of Bettor’s Delight out of the Western Ideal mare Wild Ride
Hanover who carries the banner of Richard Morita and David Yamada, hails from
the Lino Pacheco barn and will have Luke Plano once again giving directions.
She is looking for her third
straight decision at this Open level, including last week’s clash at this top
rung over a good track in a heavy fog that saw her dead-heating for the score
with Melodies That Rock.
The latter is a 5-year-old
daughter of Rockin Image who is owned by Brittney Nicole Thigpen, and is reined
and trained by William Hernandez. She was a 27-1 upset winner of the Robert Gordon
Final and then dead-heated with Delightfully Wild in last week’s top dance for
the pacing distaffers.
Looking ahead to Saturday,
the Marvin Shapiro Pace will headline the program with last week’s elimination
winners Cenalta Call Girl and Getter Queen Flush getting the top billing.
Getter Queen Flush and
Cenalta Call Girl both got the job done last week with solid come-from-behind
scores while each going off at 8-5 odds with Nick Roland and Rene Goulet at the
controls, respectively.
A reminder that 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 of
the evening; and the 20-cent Pick 4, which comes with a $30,000-guaranteed
gross pool.
