Nathalie Tremblay admits you don’t know what you’re going to get week-in and week-out when it comes to the five-year-old pacer Cycle Power
.
Tremblay owns and trains the son of Cambest and Steve Wiseman will be at the controls when Cycle Power attempts to win for the third time from his last four starts in Saturday night’s (December 31) featured pace at Cal Expo.
“He’s been very good the last few starts, but I’m never really sure which Cycle Power is going to show up,” Tremblay noted. “He always seems the same, and if you watch him warm up it’s the same, but some nights it’s a little funny the way he races and he's disappointing. Lately it’s been the good one, though.”
Because Cycle Power likes to his best work from off the pace, he can fall victim to the race flow. In his most recent appearance two weeks ago, he benefited when Haggin Oaks carved out some very legitimate fractions and he was able to rally from last with a :27.3 final quarter for Wiseman. He prevailed by three quarters of a length over the front-end mare that evening.
“That was a real nice mile by him, and the week before he had to come first over and was very game,” his mentor noted. “Good fractions are always going to help him, and slow ones are going to work against him. That’s just how it is when you have his racing style.”
Like everybody else on the program, Cycle Power had a week off as Cal Expo transitions from the official end of the fall 2011 stand to the start of the winter 2012 meeting.
“He’s just been doing light jogging,” Tremblay explained. “The week off was good for him, and I can also say that it was good for his trainer.”
The January live racing schedule at Cal Expo will find Friday and Saturday action next week; Thursday-through-Saturday cards on 12th through 14th; Friday and Saturday racing the following week; and the regular three-night line-up for the 26th through 28th of January.
(Cal Expo)