After her last two starts, Whip And A Prayer is due for a little luck, and the timing couldn’t be much better than this Friday’s (November 5) third round of sire stakes for the three-year-old pacing fillies at Cal-Expo.
Gordie Graham conditions the Frank Nevarez homebred daughter of Hi Ho Silverheels. Rich Wojcio is the distaffer's regular pilot, and despite the fact she is still seeking her first victory after five appearances, she has established herself as one of the major players in the division.
In the most recent stakes clash two weeks ago, Whip And A Prayer came from well back to be a solid runner-up to Hi Fidelity. She looked to be in a good spot for a snapshot last week, but lost her chance with an early miscue.
“That last stakes race was a real good effort from her,” Graham related. “She had to come a long way, and that :28.1 last quarter was impressive. Because of her style, she’s at the mercy of the early pace, but she always tries hard.”
Whip And A Prayer was strongly backed at the windows last week when she dropped into a maiden affair, but things quickly went south soon after the start when she made a break. She eventually recovered to finish fourth in the race.
“I’m just guessing that the track was too hard for her, and there were quite a few horses who made uncharacteristic breaks that night. It was nobody’s fault, because they were expecting rain and tightened it up.”
Graham feels his charge will make her biggest impact when next season rolls around and it’s sophomore stakes time.
“She’s small, and I’m looking for her to fill out between now and next spring and really come into her own,” he noted.
Live racing will resume at Cal-Expo on Thursday, November 4 and will continue through Saturday, November 6. Post time for the Thursday card is 6:00 p.m. (PDT). Approximate first-race post time for Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6 is 5:45 p.m. There is a carryover of $1,366 in Thursday night’s Pick 5. A 50-cent minimum wager, the Pick 5 covers Races 5-9 on the evening.
(Cal-Expo)