In the second race on Sunday, January 17 at Cal-Expo, all good things came to end for the talented mare One More Molly, as the five-year-old had her outstanding 11-race win streak come to an end.
Stuck with the outside slot in the field of a half-dozen for trainer Tim Maier, a mixture of a sloppy track in rainy/windy conditions, combined with being first-over, was just too much for One More Molly to overcome in a fourth place finish.
Mil Amores Thrives In The Off Going
It wasn't an easy field by any means, but you wouldn't have known that by the way Mil Amores won.
Conditioned pacers, racing over a sloppy track for a purse of $4,400, were featured at Cal-Expo on Sunday, January 17; a date which saw the start of a predicted period of wind and rain, on which Mil Amores was much the best.
In advance of starting from Post 4 in the field of five, owner/trainer Gilbert Herrera was respectful of the "easier" opponents he was facing.
"For him taking a class drop, it was still a pretty tough field with a lot of class horses in there," stated Herrera. "I thought if I could get to the front easy, that he could be tough. But my strategy depended on if Deep Red (driven by Rocky Stidham) was going to leave."
Coming away in fourth position, but in front of the ducked Deep Red, Herrera moved his charge to the outside an eighth of a mile past the start and had him quickly moving up and into the lead past the quarter-mile pole, timed in :31.
Pacing a soft :30.3 second-quarter considering strong backside tailwinds, Mil Amores reached the half-mile pole, timed in 1:01.3 for his confident pilot.
"Off that half I didn't think they could beat me."
Taking a brief look back before getting to the final-turn, a sharp Herrera, while knowing his competition, asked his pacer to go on a little.
"I know that Ultimate Desire (Bruce Clarke), who was in the pocket behind me, is a nice horse, but was also making his first start back since July. I assumed they didn't want to rough him up the first time -- so that's why I asked my horse to go on. When I did, he responded pretty well and I wasn't even touching him around the final turn -- he was doing it on his own. When we reached the three-quarters, I was sitting pretty comfortably."
Opening up the lead at the five-eighths mile station and expanding the lead midway through the final-turn, the five-year-old found himself on top by three lengths at the three-quarter mile marker, timed in 1:30.2. He then continued to lengthen his advantage in the lane, while Herrera high-lined his pupil the length of the stretch while never urging him.
"I just let him pace while knowing nobody was getting close to me and he was very good down the stretch."
Winning ($10.20) under a grip by four lengths, the son of Artsplace stopped the timer in 1:58.4. At Last (Rick Plano) surged at the wire after a nice late rally to be second, and Deep Red, who closed and raced fine, finished just a quarter of one-length farther back, in third.
"He raced pretty good," concluded Herrera.
Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Thursday, January 21 and continues through Sunday, January 24. First-race post times are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. (PST).
(With files from Cal-Expo)