By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
George Reider appears to have
a nice prospect for the upcoming California Sire Stakes in the 3-year-old
gelding Prideofthesierras, who put it all together last weekend in his fourth
start with Steve Wiseman in the sulky.
A son of Little Steven out of
the Personal Power mare Brooklets Kia, Prideofthesierras was bred by Rick and
Marlene Thomas and they co-own along with Reider and Dave and Rob Haness.
George had tipped in a column
back in December that he felt this was a promising youngster, and nothing this
pacer has done in the interim has made him change his opinion.
“He’s the second offspring
from the mare, who also had Feeling Fancy Free, and it really is two different
tales,” Reider noted. “She is very small and very high strung, but he’s big and
strong with a very nice demeanor. He trained down so nice we’ve had high hopes
all along.”
Now it’s time for
Prideofthesierras to get serious, as the first round of Sire Stakes action for
the class of 2015 is upon us.
“We’ve got 12 weeks for the
six stakes races, and I’m very excited for the connections,” George said. “As
far as plans for the summer go, we’ll see how he progresses toward the end of
the meet and go from there.”
As usual, Reider is quick to
point out that a trainer is only as good as his help, with Juan and Chicky
being singled out for their excellent work behind the scenes.
Pacing fillies and
mares command the spotlight
An excellent $6,600 Distaff
Open Pace serves as the main event at Cal Expo Saturday night with a very
contentious cast of nine set to face the starter.
There are 11 races on tap and
the Watch and Wager LLC card gets under way at 6:10 p.m. The headliner will be
the eighth event of the evening.
Last week’s Filly and Mare
Open turned out to be a thriller, with Delightfully Wild getting home by a nose
over Blue Note, with that pair a length and three-quarters ahead of
Shesamysterytome at the wire.
Delightfully Wild is a
5-year-old daughter of Bettor’s Delight who races for Richard Morita and David
Yamada, is conditioned by Lino Pacheco and will have James Kennedy back at the
controls while leaving from the No. 7 slot.
In last week’s clash, the bay
miss relaxed early, came first over at the half, continued on gamely in the
lane and wore down pace-setting Blue Note by a nose in a 1:54 4/5 tour. It was
her third win from seven starts on the year.
Blue Note is going in
razor-sharp form for owner/trainer Rick Cisco and will have the services of
Luke Plano. She has won three of her last seven starts, including a victory in
the Alan Kirschenbaum Final on February 2. She has been runner-up in the other
four efforts, including that narrow setback at most recent asking.
Completing the field are
Capitol Hill, Shark Festival, Poorlittlerichgirl, Sparkin Your Fire, Getter
Queen Flush, Shesamysterytome and Melodies That Rock.
