Three-year-old trotting filly Katie Mouse appears to have acclimated nicely to her new home, as she has scored back-to-back wins for the team of owner Stephen Grollneck, trainer Kennedy Lindsey and pilot Luke Plano at Cal Expo.
The Illinois-bred daughter of Armbro Tropicana captured three of her 19 starts before joining the Lindsey barn and moving her act to the west coast. She has now posed for pictures the last two weeks while establishing a new mark in the process.
“I bought her from someone I know in Illinois who was looking to sell,” Lindsey related when asked about the bay miss. “It looked like she would fit out here and would benefit by racing on a mile track.”
After a needed effort with her trainer in the bike, Katie Mouse was paired with Plano for the first time on November 15 and came with a nice late charge to get the job done by a half-length as a 7-1 shot.
Sent off as an even-money co-choice last week, they took advantage of the rail post and made every pole a winning one while prevailing by three-quarters of a length over the pocket sitter.
“Luke said she was real good in that first win,” Kennedy said. “We were going to play it by ear as far as the tactics go last time, and she just went right to the front. I was pretty confident the entire way, although I know she’s the type of horse who waits a bit on them.”
Can Katie Mouse keep the momentum going and complete a hat trick? Stay tuned.
Quality Sport, BBs Harley In Main Event
Quality Sport, who has used a strong closing kick to win two of his last three starts; and BBs Harley, his most immediate victim last time, get another chance to settle the score in Saturday night’s featured $5,000 Open I Pace.
A 12-race program is on tap with the headliner going as the third event on the evening and a first post of 6:10 p.m., while racing continues Sunday with things getting underway at 5:10 p.m.
Quality Sport is a seven-year-old son of Sportsmaster who carries the banner of Ronald and Tammy Wells and is reined and trained by Steve Wiseman. He comes into Saturday with seven wins from his 36 starts on the year with a lifetime mark of 1:53.1 that was set this summer at Running Aces.
The dark-hued pacer came from well back to post a neck upset at 10-1 on November 7 with Tony Succorotte at the controls, had to settle for third at next asking and then came calling late with trainer Wiseman in his last outing to prevail by a half-length over BBs Harley while returning $20 to his backers.
BBs Harley is a three-year-old from the Gene Vallandingham shedrow who races for A Piece Of The Action LLC with Williams Hernandez in the sulky. He registered solid front-end victories on October 31 and November 14, led the way to deep stretch in that last tour but was unable to contain Quality Sport at crunch time.
Rounding out the field are Endeavors King, who gives the Vallandingham barn another look at the outcome from the cozy rail slot; Im Real Good from the Lino Pacheco shedrow; and At Last for Grodie Graham.
A reminder there are two wagers on the program that come with a reduced 16 per cent takeout race. They are the 50-cent Pick 5, which this season features a 25 per cent minor pool payout; and the 20-cent Pick 4, which comes with a $25,000-guaranteed gross pool.
(Cal Expo)