After having settled for second two weeks ago in the first sires stakes event for her division, Little Emma is looking to correct that oversight in Saturday night’s second big-money dance for three-year-old pacing fillies at Cal Expo.
A homebred daughter of Little Steven, Little Emma races for the partnership of breeders Rick and Marlene Thomas, Dave and Rob Haness and George Reider, with Reider doing the training. She will enter the race off of a sharp conditioned victory last weekend in what was her first teaming with Luke Plano. The pairing should set her up perfectly for Saturday’s main event.
“She’s got the right name, that’s for sure,” said Reider. “She’s very little, just like her dam, who was a hard-trying New Zealand mare that I trained for a while for the Thomas family.
“She was a feisty little thing to break, and even though she’s little, she has a lot of power and spunk. She’s still learning, but she’s definitely getting better with each start. It’s interesting when you train down a baby and see the characteristics of the mother come through like they do with this filly.”
Reider added that while both Little Emma and her dam, Elegant Emma, were feisty on the racetrack, they were both complete sweethearts around the barn.
“I’m happy for all the connections as far as how things have gone to this point, and I also want to give credit to Alex Alaga at Hawthorne Ranch, who does a great job and brings them back looking fantastic.
“As far as the spring goes, it’s going to be exciting to see how much more she can progress. If I could ask for one thing, it would be that gets just a little taller,” Reider added, with a smile.
SOPHOMORE SIRE STAKES GET MARQUEE TREATMENT
A pair of $10,000 California Sire Stakes for three-year-old pacers will head the Saturday program. Allmyxsliveintexas and Midnight Adventure will lead the colt division and Little Emma and Moonstone Beach will square off in the filly contest.
There will be a 12-race card on tap under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with a first post of 6:15 p.m. The colt stakes will go as the third event on the evening, while the filly stakes will be contested as a non-betting race prior to the regular program.
Looking at the stakes for the males, Allmyxsliveintexas won the initial stakes for the group on February 13 over Midnight Adventure, who was the 4-5 favourite that evening.
The former is a homebred son of Hi Ho Silverheels who races for Wayne and Rod Knittel, is conditioned by Bob Johnson, and will once again have Mooney Svendsen guiding.
Sent off the 9-5 second choice in that first sires stakes event, Allmyxsliveintexas was used early for the lead by Svendsen, was then covered up on the backside, and then came home with a nice kick in the stretch to win going away. The colt’s margin of victory was a length and a half in a sharp 1:54.3 performance.
Midnight Adventure is a son of Kents On Nuke who is owned and was bred by Mark Anderson and Debra McCarthy. He hails from the Gordie Graham barn and will have James Kennedy back at the controls. He accounted for the Lonnie Beck Series finale on January 30.
Moonstone Beach captured the first stakes get-together for the sophomore pacing fillies for the team of owner/breeders Wayne and Rod Knittel, trainer Bob Johnson and pilot Mooney Svendsen. She rallied with cover that night and proved a punctual 3-5 choice.
Little Emma was her most immediate victim in that mile, but came back to win a conditioned event last weekend in a solid come-from-behind effort. George Reider trains the Little Steven offspring and co-owns along with her breeders Rick and Marlene Thomas and Dave and Rob Haness and Luke Plano guides. Plain Awesome completes the cast with James Kennedy in the sulky.
(Cal Expo)