By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Allmyx’sliventexas and
Gorgeous For Real head the cast in Saturday night’s featured $7,200 Don
Ratchford Pace.
Watch and Wager LLC will
present 10 races with first post set for 6:40 p.m. and the main event goes as
the fifth on the program.
Allmyx’sliventexas is a
6-year-old son of Hi Ho Silverheel’s who is owned and was bred by Rod and Wayne
Knittel, takes his lessons from Bob Johnson and will have Mooney Svendsen back
at the controls.
In last week’s Open Pace, he
was sent off the 6-5 second choice while leaving from the outside post and
blasted away from the barrier to make virtually every pole a winning one in a
1:53 2/5 performance.
It was the 32nd
lifetime victory for Allymyx’sliventexas and he is now just shy of the $200,000
earnings mark with a 1:50 flat lifetime standard that was established last year
at Hoosier Park.
Gorgeous For Real put in a
good late move in that top dance last weekend, but had to settle for the exacta
completion as the odds-on choice. The 5-year-old goes about his business for
the partnership of Schwartz, Wilkinson, Axelrod and O’Neill with Jim Wilkinson
training and Luke Plano in the sulky.
A winner of 19 of his 88
appearances, Gorgeous For Real romped here opening night and established his
1:50 3/5 career standard this summer in Indiana. Completing the field are
Marced Magic, Bestinthebusiness, Part Time, Coz and Effect and Cowboys
Dirtyboots.
Race honors memory of
Don Ratchford
Saturday’s feature race is
named for Don Ratchford, the respected horseman who passed away in August at
the age of 75.
Born in Nova Scotia, Don
originally came to the United States in 1962 with Hall of Famer Joe O’Brien and
quickly established himself as a valuable asset to the success of the O’Brien
stable.
Ratchford also worked with
such top horseman as Bob Farrington, Jim Dennis, Jack Williams, Bob Williams
and Harold Merriam which, he said, “Contributed to whatever success I achieved
because of what I learned from them.”
Not only was he very
successful as a trainer/driver, Don was a partner and operator of Highland
Farm, a breeding and training facility under his care from 1980 to 1994.
Among Ratchford’s most
successful performers were Armbro Guest, Hilarious Brew, Timeron Hanover,
Karen’s Rowdy One, A Little Bit Rowdy and Karen’s Magic One.
Said trainer Barry Abrams, “He
was very important to me, because I learned to be horsemen from Don and never
would have been a trainer without him.
“He was an outstanding
horseman. Give him a sore horse and he would change the shoeing and rub those
legs, the way he learned from Joe O’Brien, and get amazing results.”
