By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Trainer Bob Johnson will
attempt to capture Saturday night’s Lonnie Beck Pace with Allmyxsliventexas for
owner/breeders Wayne and Rod Knittel, and a victory would be fitting as Johnson
conditioned several outstanding performers who raced under the Beck banner.
Lonnie Beck passed away in
2002 at the age of 68.
“Lonnie was very important as
both an owner and a breeder in California, especially during the time we needed
it most,” Johnson said. “I remember one year we went back to the Harrisburg
sale and he bought 12 horses to bring back here to race. He made a big
difference.”
Beck was certainly one of the
most important owner/breeders of the last several decades while campaigning some
of the top performers on the West Coast, including Givemewhatineed, his son
Ivegotwhatuneed and Mel’s Best, just to name a few.
***
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.
Last Saturday night’s Pick 5
featured winners that paid $3.80, $11.40, $11.80, $12.40 and $12.80,
respectively, returning a healthy $7,137 for each 50-cent ticket.
Using the regular takeout
rate, each winning combination would have been worth $6,372, a difference of
$765. Now that’s value.
Lonnie Beck Pace brings
out solid cast
The $8,300 Lonnie Back Pace
has the top billing Saturday night at Cal Expo, with last week’s Prep winner FF
Bigshow among the major players.
There will be 11 races
presented under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post set for 6:10
p.m. The co-feature is a $6,600 Open Pace that finds Gorgeous For Real eyeing
his third straight victory at the head of the class.
To give you some idea how
contentious the Lonnie Beck figures to be, last week’s Prep for this event saw
the first four horses separated by the grand total of a neck, with FF Bigshow
prevailing in a 1:54 mile that evening.
A 7-year-old son of
Relentless Yankee, FF Bigshow is owned by George Reider, Greg Robinson and
David Siegel, is conditioned by Reider and will have Luke Plano giving
directions.
In last week’s outing, the
pacer was shuffled to next-to-last at the half, found room late in the drive
and ignited when it counted for Plano to get the nod over Allmyxsliventexas,
who in turn narrowly got the place over Senga Nitro and Beacon Of Hope.
Allmyxsliventexas is
5-year-old Hi Ho Silverheel’s homebred who competes for Wayne and Rod Knittel
with Bob Johnson handling the training duties and Nick Roland in the sulky. He
was a 1:51 4/5 winner at Running Aces last summer and will be tough no matter
how things shake out early.
Rounding out the cast are the
aforementioned pair of Senga Nitro and Beacon Of Hope along with I’m Blue Too
and Cantholdmebackmack. The feature goes as the third race on the card.
