Nick Roland is making his presence felt at Cal-Expo as both a driver and trainer with another California invasion, with his most immediate concern being Lakota Law in Saturday night’s Funicello/Holt Final.

The five-year-old mare, who carries the banner of Peter Jesh, spent her summer at Running Aces and was runner-up behind Tabbat Mcrey in last week’s Prep. She will be looking to turn the tables with conditioner Roland guiding from middle of the nine-horse line-up.

“She’s getting better,” her mentor noted. “She had some soundness issues when she first got her, but we’ve been able to work on those and she’s improving.”

Nick arrived with 16 racehorses and two babies, and is expecting six or seven more youngsters to join the barn shortly. He tips that some of the better performers are set to turn up in the entries, including the trotter Scramble Camp, who was scheduled to suit up on Friday night.

In the meantime, Roland enjoys getting involved in the evening frays and is always open to catch drives. “It’s always nice to have people put you up behind their horses. When the weather is nice, I certainly don’t mind being out there every race. On the other hand, when it’s cold and rainy, I have no problem sitting out some races.”

Nick hopes to stay here for most of the meet, which runs through April, with one caveat. “If the weather back home turns nice sooner rather than later, that could mean we leave a few weeks earlier than planned.”

In the meantime, look for Nick Roland to make his share of appearances in the Cal Expo winner’s circle.

Tabbat Mcrey headlines Funicello/Holt Final

Tabbat Mcrey, who came from out of the clouds to record her first Cal Expo victory last week, gets the top billing in Saturday night’s $8,500 Funicello/Holt Final for pacing fillies and mares.

Watch and Wager LLC will present 12 races Saturday with first post at 6:10. The co-features will be a $7,200 Open Pace featuring the streaking Allmyxsliventexas and two divisions of the Alan Horowitz Eliminations.

Getting back to the Funicello/Holt, Tabbat Mcrey is a five-year-old daughter of McArdle who goes about her business for owner David Watson and is reined and trained by Rene Goulet. After closing for the place spot in her local debut two weeks ago, Tabbat Mcrey came back to get the job done by two lengths in last week’s Prep for this event at 7-1 odds.

Lakota Law completed the exacta in that affair and will be looking to turn the tables this weekend for owner Peter Jesh and driver/trainer Nick Roland. She was a 1:54.3 victress last season at Hoosier Park and fits very nicely with this group.

Casey N Grinegan had to settle for a fourth-place finish as the 3-2 choice last week after being parked first-over to the lead in the stretch. Darryl Cutting conditions the Alberta-bred miss for Melinda Smith and Steve Wiseman will be at the helm.

Completing the field are LLuli, Palmona Ruiz, Thats How It Goes, Nightgirl, June Morning and Brooklyn Moonshine.

(Cal-Expo)