The plan was to sit and strike, and Cycle Power sure did that
. Winners Over pacers, racing for a purse of $4,500, were featured at Cal Expo on Friday night (December 16), on which Cycle Power closed from last to first.
Coming away in third position for pilot Steve Wiseman from Post 2 in the field of five, the pair stayed put through good first half fractions set by Haggin Oaks (James Kennedy) of :28.3 and :57.4. The problem, if there was one, was that it was likely that Kennedy would step on the gas with his mare in the third-quarter. Did this concern Wiseman?
"I had one thing on my mind at the half and that was the stretch because that's where he's got his best move. If I got there, I got there," stated Wiseman.
With the field a little less than 7/16ths of a mile from home, Wiseman had a chance to pull his charge first over, but stuck to his strategy guns.
"I opted to stay in because he had been first-up the last two weeks in a row, plus the pace was very honest in the third quarter and like I said, my plan was to wait until the stretch."
Getting pushed back at the five-eighths mile pole and then shuffled to last at the three-quarter mile station, timed in 1:26.1, Wiseman shook loose with cover at the head of the lane, but Haggin Oaks drew clear by two lengths while in full gear, as opposed to Cycle Power, who had yet to get into gear. Was Wiseman worried then?
"I thought I might have let Haggin Oaks get a little too far ahead of me, so at that point I figured I'd be no worse than second."
Moving four-wide with less than 3/16ths of a mile to go, Wiseman soon had his pacer flying at mid-stretch.
"At the seven-eighths he started to kick it into gear and I got after him a little bit and realized I might have a shot to get there and he'd be strong down the stretch and we got there."
Closing in very willing fashion, the five-year-old picked them up and laid them down to get up just to the wire. Proudly owned and trained by Nathalie Tremblay, the gelding won ($12.40) by three-quarters of a length in 1:54.3. Haggin Oaks tried hard, but had to settle for second, and Shamderock (Luke Plano) finished one-length farther back in third.
"It was a very good race for him. We sat inside, we got out in the stretch and he paced the lane like he likes to do," finished the meet's leading driver, who had five wins on the 11-race program, of which the last three came consecutively.
(Cal Expo)