One of the many new, four-legged faces at Cal Expo this season is that of Axle, a four-year-old trotter that is making himself very much at home since having relocated from Minnesota.
He is also fresh off of having gotten his picture taken this past weekend.
Axle was claimed for $5,000 at Running Aces in August and has since won two of his four starts while carrying the banner of Dave Siegel, Bob Thronson, Greg Robinson and George Reider, with the latter handling training duties.
Axle clicked in his first start for the new connections at Running Aces while equalling his lifetime mark of 1:57.4 in the process. He met some tough types in his initial two outings at the Cal Expo meet and then got some class relief last weekend and prevailed with some aggressive handling by owner/driver Siegel.
“Dave Siegel picked this horse out and I’ve always wanted to go in partnership with him and the opportunity finally opened up,” Reider related when asked about the son of Hard Rock N Roll. “I was actually at Hoosier Park, but I did have three horses at Running Aces with my assistant trainer, Kim Hines, and we wired her the money and she put in the claim.
“He got a great drive from Mooney (Svendsen) and won in his first start for us back there, and he’s turned in three good efforts since coming here. I thought he was real game the other night for Dave and he certainly has the chance to get better. He was kind of a nervous type when he first got here, but he’s settled down the last couple of weeks and that’s very important with a trotter.”
Axle suits up Saturday night in the Open 2 Handicap Trot, where the water gets deeper as he takes on the likes of Alpine Hawk and Franks Best while leaving from the No. 3 slot with Siegel back at the helm. He’ll definitely get a good test in that spot.
Series finales, Open Trot headline program
Four California Harness Legends late-closing pacing series finals and an Open 2 Trot headed by Alpine Hawk and Franks Best are the main attractions on the 14-race program at the Watch and Wager LLC meet at Cal Expo on Saturday night. A reminder that beginning next week, the schedule at Cal Expo will switch to Friday and Saturday action.
The first series finale is the Mike Corley, which should find one of the heaviest favourites of the evening in I O One. The four-year-old son of Cambest races for Fabian and Edwin Alberto Quevedo with Raul Escobedo the trainer and Luke Plano at the helm. I O One has rewarded the chalk players at 6-5 and 1-2 through the first two legs while leaving little doubt on either occasion.
The Bill Conlin final has Serious Art and Live A Little once again figuring to command most of the tote attention after having finished one-two in the first two legs. Live A Little went coast to coast for owner/trainer Bob Johnson and driver Mooney Svendsen on opening night, while Series Art was taking bows after their most recent meeting in a game performance for owner/trainer Nathalie Tremblay and Luke Plano.
The Annette Funicello for fillies and mares will head postward for Race 11 on the evening. Windy City Paige is looking to make a sweep of the three legs for owner Pamela Dunneback-Quirie, trainer Richard Dunneback and pilot James Kennedy. The eight-year-old daughter of Cole Muffler has made every pole a winning one in the opening two legs, most recently holding safe by a head over a game Mystically Mine.
The Jim Dennis is headed by Lust, who put on a furious finish from last in the second leg after having left from the demanding Post 10 last weekend and won going away by three and a half lengths. Wiseman will guide the Williams Hernandez/Georgette Wenceslao colourbearer, who just missed on opening week while also finishing powerfully.
The Open 2 Trot is a handicap event that finds Racing Secretary Fred Kuebler assigning the outside two positions to the hard-hitting Franks Best and Alpine Hawk. The latter will start from the extreme outside in the field of seven with Rich Wojcio at the controls, while Franks Best will do his work from Post 6 with Mooney Svendsen giving directions.
Franks Best got the job done at the head of the trotting division on opening week as the Bob Johnson-owned, trained and bred performer looped the field to score. Alpine Hawk had some traffic troubles that evening, but had no such issues in their most recent meeting and was able to turn the tables with Wojcio.
(Cal Expo)