Im An Athlete will be gunning for his 40th lifetime score from 186 trips to the post when he suits up in Saturday night’s (Nov. 10) ninth race for owner Ronald Rettig-Zucchi, trainer Jessie Pacheco and pilot James Kennedy.
The eight-year-old son of Art Major spent his summer at Running Aces, Pocono and Harrah’s Philadelphia, and according to this trainer is happy to be home after a nice runner-up effort in a 1:56.2 qualifier last weekend.
“He’s just ‘so-so’ on the smaller tracks around the tight turns, but he really likes it here at Cal Expo,” Pacheco noted. “That qualifier was just to get him night and tight for this weekend.”
Im An Athlete has earned his $185,590 bankroll the old-fashioned way and established his 1:51 lifetime mark at Cal Expo earlier this season. He’ll look to get back to his winning ways when he starts from the middle of the field on Saturday.
“He’s a real pro,” Pacheco related when asked about the veteran pacer. “You can jog him with two fingers and he doesn’t need hopples to train. The only thing is (that) he’s much better around the big turns like we have here at Cal Expo.”
Pacheco currently houses 16 performers in his shed row and several more are due in soon. He is looking to get things off to a fast start this weekend.
Saturday will be the opening night of the Watch and Wager LLC harness meet at Cal Expo. A 12-race program has been carded and it will be featured by a pair of $7,000 Open Paces.
First post for the card will be at 6:10 p.m. There will be racing on Friday and Saturday evenings beginning next week.
New at the meet will be the Single 6, a 10-cent wager with a unique serial number jackpot winner. There will be 50 per cent going to the consolation pool and 50 per cent to the jackpot.
The first of the Open dashes has been carded as Race 8 on the card. The dash will see Gorgeous For Real head postward off of a solid qualifying score last weekend. The four-year-old races for Billie Schwartz, Junior Wilkinson and Ivan Axelrod. Wilkinson performs the training duties and Luke Plano will be at the controls.
Gorgeous For Real has posed for pictures following 14 of his 58 lifetime outings. He currently sports a 1:51 career standard that was set at Hoosier Park on August 17.
Gravelsinmytravel will be suiting up for veteran Dean Magee in the race. The seven-year-old son of Veracious Hanover will start from the cozy rail slot and will be gunning for his sixth victory of the season from 22 trips to the post.
Rounding out the field will be Dontdoubtthelakers, Mr Varsity, Last Dragon, Prodigal, Swagasaurusrex and Twomickeytrip.
There are two wagers offered at Cal Expo each night with a reduced 16 per cent takeout rate. They are the 50-cent Pick 5 that begins on the first race and the 20-cent Pick 4 that will get underway with the ninth race.
(Cal Expo)