By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Pridecrest, a coast-to-coast victor in his most recent appearance at the head of the class, gets the marquee treatment in Saturday evening’s $7,400 Open Trot.
Going as the third event, the Open Trot highlights a 12-race Watch and Wager LLC program that gets underway at 6:10 p.m.
Pridecrest is an 8-year-old son of Angus Hall who carries the banner of Heather Matthews with Kathie Plested the conditioner and Steve Wiseman once again doing the honors.
Pridecrest will leave from the outside post in the field of six and figures to get plenty of respect at the windows off that sparkling victory two weeks ago.
A lifetime earner of over $310,000 with a 1:53 2/5 career standard that was set over this track three years ago, Pridecrest made every pole a winner the last time this group met for Wiseman and has shown he can get the job done from the front, a tracking spot or with a closing kick.
Mandeville has gone some strong miles here for owner/trainer/driver Gerry Longo, including an Open score on January 3, and will be gunning for his 24th lifetime victory while adding to his $220,000 lifetime bankroll.
Taking on this pair are Majestic Lady Jo with Luke Plano; Windsun Galaxie, Dean Magee; Dougs Hobby Horse for Mooney Svendsen; and Bankers For All who leaves from the rail with James Kennedy guiding.
Low takeout wagers spark huge payoffs
There are two wagers offered here each night that come with a reduced 16 percent takeout rate – the 20-cent Pick 5 and 20-cent Pick 4 – and you need only go back to last week to find the value added.
On Friday, the anchor leg of the Pick 4 was captured by longshot Mystic Wonder and as a result returned a whooping $3,950 for each correct ducket.
The Pick 5 on Saturday returned $814 for each correct ticket, despite the fact that none of the five winners went off at higher than 9-2 odds, with two of the victorious performers sent off at 5-2 on the board.
Later on in that program, the Pick 4 paid a juicy $1,105 for each 20-cent investment with 9-5 favorite Royal Mistress being surrounded by Lookslikewemadeit ($25), Bobby Dazzler ($16) and Joltin Joe ($13) completing the sequence.
Using the regular takeout, rate the Pick 4 on Friday would have come back $3,530 a difference of $420 on each winning combination.
On Saturday, the Pick 5 would have returned $726 instead of $814, a difference of $88 per ticket, while the Pick 4 payout would have been $986 instead of $1,105, meaning $119 extra went to each winner.
Getting back to Bobby Dazzler, who accounted for last Saturday’s main event, hats off to trainer Kathie Plested who did a great job getting George McChrystal’s 7-year-old ready for a big mile with Mooney Svendsen giving directions in his first appearance since mid-December.
