Trainer Bob Johnson will attempt to capture Saturday night’s Lonnie Beck Pace with Allmyxsliventexas for owner/breeders Wayne and Rod Knittel, and a victory would be fitting as Johnson conditioned several outstanding performers who raced under the Beck banner.
Lonnie Beck passed away in 2002 at the age of 68.
“Lonnie was very important as both an owner and a breeder in California, especially during the time we needed it most,” Johnson said. “I remember one year we went back to the Harrisburg sale and he bought 12 horses to bring back here to race. He made a big difference.”
Beck was certainly one of the most important owner/breeders of the last several decades while campaigning some of the top performers on the West Coast, including Givemewhatineed, his son Ivegotwhatuneed and Mels Best, just to name a few.
There are two wagers offered here each night that come with a reduced 16 percent takeout rate. They are the 50-cent Pick 5, which is decided on the first five races of the evening; and the 20-cent Pick 4, which comes with a $30,000-guaranteed gross pool.
Last Saturday night’s Pick 5 featured winners that paid $3.80, $11.40, $11.80, $12.40 and $12.80, respectively, returning a healthy $7,137 for each 50-cent ticket.
Using the regular takeout rate, each winning combination would have been worth $6,372, a difference of $765. Now that’s value.
The $8,300 Lonnie Back Pace has the top billing Saturday night at Cal Expo, with last week’s prep winner, FF Bigshow, among the major players.
There will be 11 races presented under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post set for 6:10 p.m. The co-feature is a $6,600 Open Pace that finds Gorgeous For Real eyeing his third straight victory at the head of the class.
To give you some idea how contentious the Lonnie Beck figures to be, last week’s Prep for this event saw the first four horses separated by the grand total of a neck, with FF Bigshow prevailing in a 1:54 mile that evening.
A seven-year-old son of Relentless Yankee, FF Bigshow is owned by George Reider, Greg Robinson and David Siegel, is conditioned by Reider and will have Luke Plano giving directions.
In last week’s outing, the pacer was shuffled to next-to-last at the half, found room late in the drive and ignited when it counted for Plano to get the nod over Allmyxsliventexas, who in turn narrowly got the place over Senga Nitro and Beacon Of Hope.
Allmyxsliventexas is five-year-old Hi Ho Silverheels homebred who competes for Wayne and Rod Knittel with Bob Johnson handling the training duties and Nick Roland in the sulky. He was a 1:51.4 winner at Running Aces last summer and will be tough no matter how things shake out early.
Rounding out the cast are the aforementioned pair of Senga Nitro and Beacon Of Hope along with Im Blue Too and Cantholdmebackmack. The feature goes as the third race on the card.
(Cal Expo)