Friday night was a memorable one for trainer Bob Johnson, as he accounted for the Winners Over Trot with Franks Best and captured both $15,000 California Sire Stakes for the two-year-old fillies with
Brimstone Threat and Vari Forgetful.
Mooney Svendsen guided both Franks Best, who is owned by Johnson, and Brimstone Threat, who carries the banner of breeders Pamela and Hei Mitchell; while Bruce Clarke handled the lines for Vari Forgetful, who is owned and was bred by Jack Coffey.
Franks Best is a son of Armbro Scribe who was winning for the sixth time from 21 trips to the post this season. He sat a tracking trip for a half, came first over for Svendsen going into the final bend and put in a game stretch drive to wear down pacesetting Putoneonnetformom by three-quarters of a length as the 4-5 public choice. Meringue checked in a distant third in the 1:58.1 mile.
Brimstone Threat proved best in the first stakes clash of the season for the two-year-old pacing fillies. The Keystone Eli offspring played the role of stalker to the stretch, ignited when Svendsen asked the question and won going away by a length and a quarter with a 2:01 final time. Littlest Mermaid sat a pocket journey with Luke Plano to gain the place, while On The Way Home carved out all the fractions with Steve Wiseman and checked in third.
Vari Forgetful had only one rival in the initial Sire Stakes for the young trotting fillies and proved clearly best over Silverlode. The Armbro Variable miss immediately opened a large lead into the first turn, continued to hold a clear advantage into the stretch and came to the wire with seven and a half lengths while stopping the timer in a strong 1:59.4 clocking.
(Cal Expo)