Pacing fillies and mares will be in the spotlight at Cal Expo on Friday night, Jan. 12 with the $12,500 Joe Alto Free-For-All headlining a nine-race card under the Watch and Wager LLC banner. 

Graceful Horizon accounted for the most recent Distaff Open two weeks ago and figures to get more respect at the windows this time around after scoring a 6-1 upset in that contest.

A five-year-old daughter of Vertical Horizon owned by Set The Pace Racing LLC and trained by Nick Roland, the bay mare rode live cover to the drive and then ignited when it counted with Chip Lackey.

On Friday, Roland will be at the controls while leaving from the No. 4 post in the field of eight.

Give Me This Dance and Starzznstripes have also recorded wins at the Open level during this stand and loom the main rivals.

Give Me This Dance, who races for Alan and Cheryl Sandbulte and hails from the Luke Plano barn, captured back-to-back top dances on Nov. 24 and Dec. 3 and carved out all the fractions before being overhauled by Graceful Horizon at most recent asking. She is the 5-2 morning line favourite in the Alto from post three.

Starzznstripes accounted for the Dec. 15 Open at 9-1 for owner Gretchen Smith, trainer Alexia Kehl and regular pilot Sean Smithpeters. She has drawn post eight.

Completing the field are Velocity McSweets, Crazy Cute, Wish I Had Thyme, Senga Nightmare and River Lassena.

Friday night’s main event is named for Joe Alto, the announcer at Cal Expo for many years, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 78.

Alto plied his trade as a track announcer for 40 years. He started at Buffalo Raceway and Batavia Downs in native New York, then headed west and handled the duties at Hollywood Park, Los Alamitos and Cal Expo.

He was also a golden gloves boxer in his younger days and an accomplished salsa dancer.

Alto called both harness horses and Thoroughbreds in Sacramento, and was known for such signature calls as, “You better take a look at...” and “They’re coming home now!”

Trackman Marty Bridges also considered Alto a good friend: “He was a one-of-a-kind announcer and one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, on or off the racetrack.”

A reminder that there are a pair of wagers offered at Cal Expo each night that come with a reduced 16 per cent takeout rate: the 20-cent Pick 4 and the 20-cent Pick 5, with the latter featuring a $25,000 guaranteed gross pool.

In addition, there are two new wagers being offered: the 20-cent Pick 7 that begins on the third race on Friday and the $3 Pick 3 that begins with the seventh event.

First post is set for 6:45 p.m.

(With files from Cal Expo)