By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Bertha Vanation, fresh from a
25-1 upset at the head of the class over a gutty Brighten Your Life; and
Velocity McSweets, who had to settle for third that evening in a blanket finish
as the prohibitive favorite, get a rematch in Saturday night’s $6,200 Filly and
Mare Open Pace.
There will be 13 races
presented under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post set for 4:55
p.m. with the main event scheduled as the second event on the evening.
Bertha Vanation is a
6-year-old daughter of Voracious Hanover who races for Cathy Dessert and is
reined and trained by Nick Roland. She was able to leave into a perfect pocket
trip in that last score and prevailed by a nose over Brighten Your Life, who
carved out all the fractions.
The latter is a Shark Gesture
mare who led every step but the last and will be looking for some revenge this
weekend. Tyler Gunderson and Jenna Cornelison own, Cornelison trains and will
once again be handled by Tony Succarotte.
Velocity McSweets will be
looking for some revenge after getting the worst of things while beaten only a
neck for the whole thing last time. Jennifer Sabot owns and trains and
Cordarius Stewart handles the lines.
Leaving from the outside slot
in that last assignment, Velocity McSweets sat behind slow fractions, put in a
big move around the final bend but could not quite reach the leaders that
evening.
Completing the cast are
Delightfully Wild, who will be seeking her third straight victory for owners
Richard Morita and David Yamata and trainer Jessie Pacheco; and Robert Staats
winner Paloma Ruiz for Melinda Smith and driver/trainer Jake Cutting.
The co-featured conditioned
trot carries a $5,500 purse and brings out a solid cast consisting of Major
A-Mar, MD Magic, Teachmehowtotry, Mshindi and Flameon.
Big Guy, Lassena give
Svendsen pleasure drives
Mooney Svendsen had a couple
of nice winners in the sulky last week, guiding Royale Big Guy to a convincing
victory in the Open II Pace and sitting behind the mare River Lassena when she
waltzed home by 14 lengths in a conditioned affair.
Royale Big Guy is a
7-year-old son of Ashlee’s Big Guy who carries the banner of Scott Ehrlich and
takes his lessons from Kathie Plested. After suffering some traffic behind the
streaking Allmyx’sliventexas in the January 3 Open, he appreciated the class
relief last time around and responded with a length score in 1:53 flat.
“This horse has never gone a
bad mile for me,” Svendsen noted. “I was pretty confident going into that last
race, so I just let him settle and then came first over with him on the
backside. He was awfully strong to the wire.”
Svendsen had some idea what
he had when he climbed behind the 4-year-old distaffer River Lassena for Mark
Anderson and Gordie Graham, but wasn’t prepared for the overwhelming mile the
daughter of Riverboat King was going to give him.
After sitting the pocket
early, he was out and moving with her to final bend, took complete control of
things from that point and romped to the line with 14 lengths back to the
nearest rival.
“I’d never driven her before,
so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect,” Mooney noted. “All I did was hit the
wheel disk once and she absolutely took off. I said to myself that Andersen has
another good one.
“As far as the margin goes, I
did drive one once that won by 18 lengths, but this was certainly close and
quite a ride.”
No kidding.
