Once his favoured stablemate was eliminated, it was a "shot and a goal" for Putoneonnetformom
.
Winners-Over trotters, racing for a purse of $4,500, were featured at Cal Expo on a nasty windy Friday night (January 20), in which Putoneonnetformom romped. With the field in behind the starting gate and a sixteenth of a mile from the start, there was good news and bad news for the Rocky Stidham-trained horses Putoneonnetformom (James Kennedy) and Shelby County (Anthony Succarotte).
"It was a big benefit for me when Shelby County broke because she has a good kick home and can out-kick me," said Kennedy.
Getting the lead into the first turn into a :31.2 opening quarter over a sloppy track, Putoneonnetformom, with the help of very strong tailwinds in the second quarter, reached the half-mile juncture, timed in 1:01.4. Giving his charge a line jerk past the midway point of the final turn, Kennedy had good reason.
"I was hoping if I could gas pedal a little bit, that I could scoot away, and he responded."
Opening up by two lengths at the three-quarter mile station, timed in 1:31.4, Kennedy was preparing for the stretch drive.
"I had a good head wind coming, so I needed momentum going into it when we straightened out, plus I was very concerned with Franks Best [with driver Lemoyne Svendsen] because he was right on my helmet. As it turned out, however, Franks Best kind of backed up once I popped the earplugs at the three-quarters and stepped on it."
Leading by two and a half lengths at the head of the lane and under wheel-disc urging, the eight-year-old opened up with every stride and had five lengths on his foes with an eighth of a mile to go, then coasted home while not urged in the last sixteenth of a mile to record a seven and a quarter length victory, paying $9 to win.
"I don't think he fought the wind that well in the stretch, but we had a good gap on everybody else and were able to win by more than I thought we would."
Bred and owned by Jeff, Gerald and Diana Cimini, the gelding stopped the timer at 2:03.4. Giles L S Hanover (Steve Wiseman) finished in second, and Franks Best was another eighth lengths farther back in third.
"If you take out how he was into the head wind in the lane, then he was perfect. Plus it was a nice birthday gift for Jeff Cimini [who turned 43 yesterday]. My thanks to all the Cimini's and trainer Rocky Stidham for the opportunity to drive the horse," concluded Kennedy, who had a driving triple.
On the 14-race program, leading driver Steve Wiseman had five winners.
(With files from Cal Expo)