By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Franks Best hasn’t been
around forever, it just seems that way.
The 12-year-old son of Armbro
Scribe got his first snapshot of the season in last weekend’s Open III Trot
with Mooney Svendsen at the controls for owner/trainer/breeder Bob Johnson.
“There’s no question, he’s
one of my all-time favorites,” said Johnson. “He just loves to go out there and
race.”
For the record, Franks Best
was making his 256th trip to the post and has now recorded 48 wins,
47 seconds and 37 thirds while putting $280,475 in his bank account. He
recorded his 1:55 4/5 lifetime mark three years ago.
Franks Best, who has a number
of Sire Stakes trophies on his mantle, was cut out to be a nice performer. His
sire won 40 of his 226 starts while earning $433,000, while his dam Inside
Edition was a top racemare who captured 22 of her 69 starts before going to the
breeding shed.
Meanwhile, Bob Johnson is set
to celebrate his 76th birthday in April and continues to send out a
steady stream of winners. He was second in the trainer standings here last year
and is currently third in the race at this meet.
Johnson comes into this week
having sent out 15,683 starters and 2,574 have come back to greet him in the
charmed enclosure, including those 47 wins by Franks Best. Both are looking to
add to their impressive totals in the near future.
Eastender gets top billing
in main event
Eastender, third behind the
hard-knocking pair of I’m An Athlete and Pancetta at most recent asking, lands
a cozy spot in Friday night’s conditioned pacing feature at Cal Expo.
A 12-race card is on tap
under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post is 6:10 p.m. and there
will also be three California Sire Stakes going as non-betting events prior to
the regular program.
An 8-year-old son of Cheyenne
Rei, Eastender is owned by Maryann Plano and Nikki Hudson with Luke Plano
reigning and training. He will be looking for his second win on the year from
seven trips to the post.
The bay gelding recorded that
victory as the odds-on choice in a January 19 contest and is coming off a
second and a third in his last two tries. While no match for the top pair in
that last tour after making a first-over bid, he should be very much at home in
Friday’s line-up.
Taking him on are One And
Only, Justabitcrazy, Last Dragon, Laissez Moi Passer, Contemporary Legend,
China King, Prodigal and Wet Shark.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s
outstanding card, there will be a pair of Open events, the Shelly Goudreau
Final and the Joe Lighthill Trot.
Both Opens look like very
contentious events, while Urgointohearmeroar looms an overwhelming favorite in
the Goudreau Final and the Lighthill should prove to be a very interesting
contest with the trotters going an extended mile and one-half journey.
