They say revenge is a dish best served cold, and Franks Best has had to wait some five months to get his in Saturday night’s sire stakes for sophomore trotting colts at Cal-Expo.
Bob Johnson’s homebred has prevailed in seven of his 17 lifetime appearances, with six of those victories in added-money competition.
When last seen in a big-money dance, Franks Best was 30 cents on the dollar back on May 22 and appeared to be cruising to victory with a three-length lead at midstretch. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, he made a break and ended a distant second behind barn-mate Online Charger that evening.
“He just seemed to lose concentration and jumped it off that night, which has happened to him a couple of times before,” Johnson explained. “We gave him the summer off and he’s come back well with three races to get him ready. I scratched him last week so we could do some work on him.”
While Johnson likes the chances of Franks Best, he isn’t taking anything for granted.
“It’s never a given in a stakes race. My other horse, Online Charger, trotted in 1:59 and change last week and he’s coming up to this the best he’s ever been, and it looks like the Desomer horse Big Baller is going to be a player.”
Johnson will also be represented in the stakes event for the pacing colts with Lily’s Hi Ho, who is taking a leap in class for this assignment. The son of Hi Ho Silverheels, who had been coming from off the pace in his tries, dropped in company for last week’s tour and ended up going coast-to-coast for Lemoyne 'Mooney' Svendsen in a solid 1:56.4 performance.
“I wouldn’t have considered trying him in the stakes before last week’s mile, but he showed a lot of guts that night with Mooney and he seems to be a late bloomer. After that race, I think he deserves the chance.”
Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Thursday, October 28 and continues through Saturday, October 30. First-race post time on Thursday is at 6:00 p.m. (PT). First-race post time on Friday, October 29 is at 6:05 p.m. Approximate first-race post time on Saturday is 5:45 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)