By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
When racing against the
pacing mare Surprisingly Sweet, her rivals would be well served to heed the
advice of Satchel Paige, who said, “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining
on you.”
Surprisingly Sweet, an
11-year-old Indiana-bred daughter of Dontgetinmyway, carries the banner of
Scott Ehrlich with Kathie Plested training and Mooney Svendsen at the controls
and has used her powerful closing kick to capture four of her last five starts.
The dark-hued performer, who
sports a 1:52 3/5 mark from four years ago, has now pushed her bank account to
the $190,000 plateau and is going in razor-sharp form at the moment over this
mile layout.
“Surprisingly Sweet spent the
summer at Al Sleva’s farm instead of going to Running Aces or Hoosier,” Ehrlich
noted. “Kathie and Steve (Wiseman) would tell you how much giving her that time
off helped her be as good as she is right now. That’s also the plan again this
summer.
“Kathie just loves this mare
to pieces and they train her differently to make sure she doesn’t tie up.”
Svendsen has been guiding the
long-fused mare with the expertise of a concert violinist as they have proven
to be one of the most formidable horse/driver combinations on the grounds.
“Mooney jogs her most of the
time and usually sits behind her in training miles,” Scott explained. “She
basically trains herself to almost the same exact time each time she trains –
so much so that he rarely needs a stopwatch.”
Open Trot brings out
Its a Horse
Its a Horse, who has rattled
off four straight wins including the last three dances at the head of the
class, looks to keep the momentum going in Friday night’s featured $6,500 Open Trot.
First post for the 11-race
program under the banner of Watch and Wager LLC will be 6:10 p.m.
For the second straight
appearance, Its a Horse will be asked to do his work from the demanding No. 10
post position as he goes about his business for owner Alan Miller,
trainer Marco Rios and pilot Gerry Longo.
The Ohio-bred trotter made
his local debut on December 28 and posted a facile five and a quarter length
score at odds of 9-1 in an Open II affair, then moved up to the top level and
did an encore from well off the pace while again motoring away in the final
stages.
Its A Horse cut it much
closer in the January 11 clash at the head of the trotting class, coming from
far back at the top of the lane to collar pace-setting Silverhill Volo by a
half-length.
In his most recent outing two
weeks ago, the streaking performer left from the tough No. 10 post and
prevailed as the 6-5 favorite, once again coming from well back to win going
away by a length and three-quarters.
Completing the field are
Silverlode, who captured last week’s Open II Trot; the hard-hitting Silverhill Volo,
Windsun Galaxe, One Chief and Franks Best.
