By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Harness racing under the Watch
and Wager LLC banner returns to Cal Expo Saturday night with a 12-race program
headed by the opening leg of the Bill Conlin Series.
First post will be 6:10 p.m.
and beginning next week there will be Friday and Saturday action each week.
The wagering menu
includes the return of the low 16% takeout Pick-4 and Pick-5 wagers. Last
season’s Pick-4 pool averaged over $46,000 nightly. In addition to the Pick-4,
fans will able to wager on the Pick-5 this season in 20-cent denominations.
The Bill Conlin
will go as the fourth race on the program with a field of seven set to face the
starter and a solid case can made for each of the pacers.
California Rock
has been facing tougher company at Hoosier Park this summer and had a solid
tune-up in a qualifier last week with Luke Plano at the controls. The son of
Rockin Image is owned by Billie Schwartz, Jim Wilkinson and Ivan Axelrod with
Wilkinson the conditioner.
Red N Hotallover
has the cozy rail post for owner Edmund Martin Knapp and driver/trainer Nick
Roland and this 4-year-old mare looms a major player. Completing the cast are
Custards Dungeon, Fox Valley B Gump, Brooklyn Moonshine, Nightgirl and Lakota
Law.
On track fans
will be treated to a special Family Value night on Saturday. Hot Dogs, Beer,
Wine, and Soda are each $2 from 6 to 9. As always, parking and admission are
free after 4:30.
Rebuilding process for
Robin Clements
Robin Clements sent four
performers to Running Aces this summer, eventually selling two and retiring the
other pair, and now starts off this meet with a new quartet under her
direction.
“I claimed Crusin For You for
$10,000 in Minnesota because he’s a hard-knocking little horse who seems to do
well both at Running Aces and Cal Expo,” Clements related.
A familiar name in the barn
is Shock N Awe, who has been with trainer Bruce Clarke for many years back
east. “I just happened to call him and say I was looking for a mare to race at
Cal Expo and he had her for sale. She was a barn favorite of Bruce’s wife Megan,
so they were a little fussy about her going to someone they knew would take
good care of her.”
Using an on-line auction site
called On Gait, Robin was able to find a mare named Plain Old Jane who she felt
would be a good addition to the barn. “I went into her past history and noticed
she seemed to like the bigger track, having taken her 1:53 1/5 mark at The
Meadowlands as a 3-year-old.”
Looking for a gelding to
round out the shedrow proved to be a more difficult task for Clements. “I
didn’t really see anything worth claiming until I found Marced Magic,” she
noted.
“He had been racing at
Yonkers. I reached out to a friend of mine who owns a full brother and he loved
the horse and told me to check out the history. Being an Iowa-bred, he fits
into the DHA program and I was able to buy him because they were dissolving a
partnership.”
Robin added she was pleased
with the way each pacer qualified last weekend and is looking forward to
finding out more about her new proteges on the opening night program.
