By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
A pair of contentious Open
Paces; the $8,600 Shelly Goudreau Final and the $8,000 Joe Lighthill Trot at an
extended mile and one-half headline an excellent program at Cal Expo on
Saturday night.
An 11-race card is set to
kick off at 6:10 p.m., with the Lighthill going as the fourth event; the Filly
and Mare Open follows in the next spot; the Open Pace occupies the seventh-race
slot and the Goudreau Final will be the ninth event on the evening.
Urgointohearmeroar will be
looking to account for his third series final at the meet in the Goudreau. A
4-year-old son of Mystery Chase, Urgointohearmeroar has already captured the
Bill Conlin and Robert Gordon Finals at this stand and looms a very heavy
favorite once again.
Owned by Mark Anderson,
trained by Gordie Graham and with Mooney Svendsen in the sulky, he has been
unbeatable this season while going off the prohibitive choice on each occasion.
Urgointohearmeroar faced his
biggest challenge in last week’s outing in the Goudreau Prep, leaving from the
second tier in the overflow cast. He was parked first-over at the half, then
dug in determinedly to prevail by a neck that evening.
It was certainly a blanket
finish, with the first four across the wire separated by only three-quarters of
a length in that 1:54 flat mile, but the others figure to have their work cut
out Saturday with Urgointohearmeroar having the rail draw this time around.
The two Opens are both very
contentious events with Bettor In The Bank assigned the outside post in the
male division and stablemates Capitol Hill and Outrageousdelightn getting the
outside slots in the Distaff end.
Low takeout wagers
offer true value
There are two wagers offered
here each night that come with a reduced 16% takeout rate – the 50-cent Pick 5,
which begins on the first race; and the 20-cent Pick 4.
There are guaranteed pools
for the Pick 4, with a $30,000-guaranteed gross pool on Fridays and a $40,000
guarantee on Saturdays.
To give you some idea of the
added value, last Saturday night’s Pick 5 returned a very nice $4,562 for each
winning 50-cent ticket. Using normal takeout, the payoff would have been $4,073
a difference of $489 per ducket.
