By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
A well-matched field of
top-class pacing fillies and mares will take center stage Friday night at Cal
Expo in the $10,000 Kirk Breed Pace.
A 10-race program is on tap
under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post at 7:10 p.m. and the main
event will go as the sixth contest on the evening.
Trainer Kathie Plested looks
to have a strong hand in the race with Capitol Hill and Dancingonthesand
representing the shedrow. The former is owned by the trainer and George
McChrystal with Steve Wiseman guiding, while Dancingonthesand races for the
trainer and Alan Cooper with Mooney Svendsen at the controls.
As has often been the case at
the head of the distaff pacing class, last week’s Open saw an upset as Capitol
Hill sat a pocket trip for Wiseman and came home smartly to get the job done by
a length and a half as a 15-1 shot.
Dancingonthesand has recorded
six wins from her 10 trips to the post on the season and the long-fused mare
looms large. Her most recent tally came on April 6, as she did the
stalk-and-pounce to perfection to win going away.
Legio X Equestris is going in
very sharp form at the moment for owner David Shell and trainer Luke Plano with
a win and two seconds from the last three clashes at the top rung here. Ryan
Grundy guides the daughter of Roll With Joe and she was a 1:53 victress two
back in a handy coast-to-coast decision.
Completing the field are
Lickcreek Speedway, Brighten Your Life, Delightfully Wild and Magnifique.
Kirk Breed, Tony Miller
remembered with races
Friday’s Kirk Breed Pace is
named for the man who served as executive director of the California Horse
Racing Board from 2008 until his death at the age of 73 in 2013; while the Tony
Miller Memorial is in honor of the harness valet here at Cal Expo who passed
away recently at age 56.
Mr. Breed was appointed as
general manager at Cal Expo during the first term of Gov. Jerry Brown in 1979,
and was credited with turning around the event’s financial fortune during lean
times.
He later became a lobbyist on
behalf of the racing industry and also served for eight years on the Cal Expo
board of directors. The Oklahoma native loved horses and worked tirelessly to
reduce equine fatalities and improve track safety for horses, jockeys and
drivers.
Tony Miller was a
third-generation horsemen who was an owner, thoroughbred valet and most
recently harness valet here at Cal Expo for the past 12 years. He passed away
after a battle with colon cancer.
***
The 14-year-old pacing mare
Blue Note will be making the final start of her career Friday evening when she
suits up in the evening’s fifth race and there will be a special ceremony prior
to that start in the winner’s circle to honor this popular performer.
Rick Cisco owns and trains
the daughter of Little Steven, who is out of the Denali mare Romantic Music.
She comes into her final assignment with 37 wins from her 321 appearances,
$155,000 in her bank account and a 1:54 1/5 mark that was set here two years
ago
“She’s a gem, and always
tries her heart out,” Cisco said. “I want to be sure to credit Luke Plano,
because he’s had a lot of success driving her over the years. The plan is to
send her to Minnesota, where she’ll be bred to Wind Me Up.”
