He didn't keep a straight course in his last and it cost him. On Thursday, September 30 at Cal-Expo he was much straighter and Berkshire scored nicely.
Prior to starting from Post 4 in the Open 2 Handicap trot, driver Steve Wiseman was confident that Berkshire would race back to his winning miles after drifting way out in the stretch during his last race.
"I figured that whatever was bothering him had probably been taken care of and fixed," stated Wiseman. "As a result I thought I had a decent shot in there."
Wiseman said, "I wanted to come away third. I didn't want to be sitting behind Jam And Jelly (driven by Gene Vallandingham), despite the fact that she won this race last week. I wanted her to follow me because I felt I could out-trot her in the lane."
Closing up the three-hole and putting Jam And Jelly in the four-hole, Wiseman and his charge sat third through first-half fractions of :28.2 and :57.4.
Now on the move first-over at the five-eighths mile mark and moving nicely, Wiseman stepped on the pedal a little harder just before the three-quarter mile station, timed in 1:27, and was just a neck back.
"I came hard a little bit to the three-quarters because I thought I had Easter Call (James Kennedy) put away. Plus, by coming hard I could get a jump on the rest of them."
Taking over the lead with less than three-sixteenths of a mile to go, the four-year-old drifted some with an eighth of a mile to go, but with a safe two-length advantage.
"He just bore out a little, which I really wasn't concerned about, plus I hadn't pulled the earplugs until that point. When I did he trotted right on and stayed straight the rest of the way and all I had to do was just tap him to keep his attention as I knew I was a winner."
Owned by Ron Lingle and trained by Earl Kennedy, the gelding won by two and three-quarter lengths in 1:56.1 and equalled his lifetime mark. Meringue (Tim Maier) finished in second, and Easter Call was another three-quarters of one-length farther back, in third.
"He came back strong and was very good and still hasn't had a bad race since he has been here," said Wiseman, who had three wins on the card.
Live racing continues at Cal-Expo on Friday, October 1 at 6:00 p.m. (PDT) and Saturday, October 2 at 6:10 p.m.
Now on Saturdays, Cal-Expo will offer a reduced 15 per cent takeout rate on both the Early and Late Pick-4 wagers with both Pick-4s now having a $10,000 gross guaranteed pool.
(Cal-Expo)