A Major Omen, fresh from back-to-back victories at the head of the class, looks to extend that streak in the featured Open Pace on Sunday, Feb. 25.
Watch and Wager LLC will present 10 races with things getting underway at 5:05 p.m.
A Major Omen is an eight-year-old son of Art Major who is owned and trained by Gerry Longo with Luke Plano at the controls.
The veteran pacer comes into this assignment with 43 wins from his 155 career outings with $439,673 in his bank account and a 1:49.2 mark that was established at The Meadowlands.
A Major Omen has posed for pictures following four of his last six starts here, including the last pair with Plano doing the honours.
He went coast-to-coast in his Feb. 9 score and held safe by a neck over Allmyxsliventexas, then made a power brush to the lead past the quarter in last week’s decision while going on to a two and a half-length victory.
Allmyxsliventexas has completed the exacta in both of A Major Omen’s scores and will be looking for some revenge for owner/breeder Wayne Knittel, trainer Bob Johnson and pilot Mooney Svendsen.
Rounding out the field are Sullenberger, Major Offense, Officer Jim, Kamara, Chase The Gold, Rocks Image and Alilthundadownunda.
Handsome Harvey is back on the beam
Handsome Harvey comes into this week’s action having posed for pictures following his last two outings, giving him an impressive .400 batting average from his 48 career trips to the post.
He’s rewarded the chalkplayers in those last two scores, most recently off a perfect pocket trip behind another classy pacer in Dancin Lance, who carved out some snappy fractions that night.
A five-year-old son of Special Forces, Handsome Harvey is owned by Dave Haness and Luke Plano, with PLano doing the driving and training.
“My dad [Rick] trained for Dave and I’ve had horses for him full time for about the last three years,” related Plano. “When we bought Handsome Harvey, he was racing at the fairs in Iowa and was eligible for non-winners of one.
“We like to buy horses with conditions, develop them and gradually work them up the ranks,” continued Plano. “We gave him some extra time off following Running Aces last year and he came back bigger and stronger, but there was also an issue with him being overly aggressive in his races.”
After an equipment adjustment, Plano indicated that Handsome Harvey has "been much easier to manage. He’s working his way back up to the Open ranks.”
(Cal Expo)