Sire Stakes, Single 6 carryover on tap at Cal Expo Friday

By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness

A pair of $7,000 California Sire Stakes for 3-year-old pacers and a $10,220 carryover in the 10-cent Single 6 are the highlights on Friday night’s program,

There will be 10 races presented under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post set for 6:40 p.m.

In addition to the Single 6 carryover, a reminder that there are two wagers offered each night with a reduced 16 percent takeout rate – the 20-cent Pick 5 on the first five races and the 20-cent Pick 4.

The Pick 4 comes with a $40,000 guaranteed gross pool on Saturdays and a $30,000 guaranteed pool on Fridays.

Friday’s Sire Stakes will go as the first and fifth races on the evening and there will also be a pair of $4,800 pacing events going as the co-features and occupying the second and eighth race slots.

The opener is for colts and geldings and will find the Gordie Graham barn represented by Its Pointless and Itsonlymakebelieve,, while Bob Johnson will send out White Knuckle Ride and Junior Wilkinson has Good To Be Glad in the line-up.

The fifth race features the distaff set and Graham also has two in that contest with Debit Or Credit and Winhavetime in the cast. Robin Clements conditions Prom Queen; Bob Johnson trains Le Montrachet and Edwin Hernandez will send out Akanay. Drivers prove

Age is just a number

Drivers prove age is just a number

Part Time and Fly Away were bookend winners on last Saturday’s program for trainer Steve Wiseman, with Scott Ehrlich owning Part Time while Fly Away races for Ehrlich and Kathie Plested.

What makes it so interesting is the fact that Part Time was guided to victory by 74-year-old Gerry Longo in the opener, while 19-year-old Jacob Cutting did the honors behind Fly Away in the finale.

Part Time is a 9-year-old Illinois-bred who has an Open victory to his credit at this meet and has proven to be an excellent claim by Ehrlich, has been trained to the minute by Wiseman and Plested and has had a perfect pilot in Longo.

“I sure appreciate Steve and Scott putting me up on Part Time because he's a good horse who comes home good,” Longo related. “He's my kind of horse, one that can be right there when he gets the trip, and he got there for us on Saturday."

As far as still doing his thing at 74, Longo said, “As long as I’m competitive and doing well, this old guy is happy to stay driving.”

Meanwhile, Fly Away took care of business to the tune $21 in the Saturday nitecap and this 11-year-old showed once again that he loves to sit back and blast home as he made his second trip to the winner’s circle from his last three appearances. “He’s a solid horse who had plenty of go with a trip like that,” winning pilot Cutting stated.

“I couldn’t ask for any better drives from either guy,” Ehrlich added. “What cracks me up is that Cutting is 8 years older than Fly Away, and Gerry is 65 years older than Part Time.”