Facing much easier in his second start off a four and a half month layoff, combined with a style of racing he likes, Docs Zilla pulled off an upset

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Conditioned pacers, racing for a purse of $5,000, were featured at Cal Expo on Saturday night (May 19) in the Dennis Giles Memorial, in which Docs Zilla made every call a winning one. In advance of starting from post three in the field of nine, driver Tim Maier knew one thing and was advised of another.

"When he raced last week against Albion in the Winners Over, he needed that start," said Maier. "Off the [class] drop I thought he looked more than competitive in there. As far as strategy, my instructions were to get him off the gate because he hardly ever gets beaten on the front-end."

Accelerating into the first turn to put Strikes N Charges (Darren Lupul) in the pocket, Docs Zilla zipped the opening quarter in a rapid :27.3, and Maier wasn't letting up.

"I just kept the pedal down because I didn't want to give anybody any idea of pulling on the right line."

Reaching the half-mile station, timed in a brisk :56.1, Maier kept to the plan.

"He felt good at that point and my thoughts from there were to keep him rolling."

Slowing down the tempo a bit, but still reaching the three-quarter mile marker, timed in 1:25.1, Maier had no reason to believe his charge couldn't keep going.

"At that point I was just going to look for the wire, but he still felt good."

With the field now in the lane, Maier pretty much only had to drive on his pacer.

"When we entered the stretch I urged him once or twice, but he just acted like if I got into him too much that he might not like it. So I just hand drove him the rest of the way and he was game to the wire."

Holding tough, the four-year-old won ($17.80) by three-quarters of one length. Owned by Toman Enterprises LTD and trained by Earl Kennedy, the gelding stopped the timer at 1:54.1, establishing a seasonal mark. Hi Fidelity (Scott Cisco) finished in second and Strikes N Charges finished another three-quarters of one length farther back in third.

"He raced big and his connections were very happy,” finished Maier.

The victory for Toman Enterprises was the first of three ownership victories. For trainer Earl Kennedy, the triumph also started the beginning of a conditioning triple.

(Cal Expo)