Horseman Gene Vallandingham, who celebrated his 76th birthday in September, is currently training 30 performers. While he has over 3,500 career victories as a driver, he hasn’t seen evening action in the sulky for over a year and a half.
“I broke my hand and had it operated on, and it really hasn’t come back 100 per cent,” Vallandingham explained. “To be honest, the training has become a full-time job, so I don’t know if I’ll get back to driving as long as I have this many horses.”
Vallandingham was asked if he gets more nervous watching a race from the sidelines, as opposed to be being in the bike. “I don’t get nervous,” he said without missing a beat. “If something happens and the horse ends up in trouble, it could have just as easily happened if I was driving.”
The fastest mile of the current Cal Expo meet belongs to Vallandingham trainee Mysharona Bluechip, who made his local debut a memorable one two weeks ago when he covered his mile in a sparkling 1:51.4 with Tony Succarotte in the sulky.
The four-year-old son of Rock N Roll Heaven is owned by A Piece Of The Action LLC and was coming in from the east where he had a 1:49.3 tour over Pocono Downs earlier in the season.
“He had trained giant and I expected that kind of mile from him,” Vallandingham related after the score. “Before the race, I told Tony that he just might be the best horse he’d ever sat behind, and he didn’t disappoint us.
“I can tell you one other thing, there’s a lot more where that came from and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
MR PEARL EYES ENCORE IN FEATURED PACE
Mr Pearl, who overcame Post 10 to win at this level last week, heads the cast for Friday night’s $4,200 pacing feature.
There will be 13 races conducted under the Watch and Wager LLC banner. First post is set for 6:10. p.m. The headliner has been carded as the 10th race on the evening and a full field is set to face the starter.
Mr Pearl is a four-year-old son of Always A Virgin who races for A Piece Of The Action LLC. Gene Vallandingham trains and James Kennedy will once again handle the lines. He closed from last to win by a head with this group last weekend and will start from Post 7 on Friday.
Prodigal checked in third that night and has to be respected for owner Mark Anderson, trainer Gordie Graham and pilot Mooney Svendsen. He was a 1:53.4 winner at Running Aces this summer.
Both the 20-cent Pick 4 and 50-cent Pick 5 at Cal Expo feature a reduced 16 per cent takeout rate, and looking at last Saturday night’s Pick 5 payout shows just how much value that equals. The winners of the Pick 5 that kicked off the program were 6-5, 5-1, 9-5, 17-1 and 5-1, respectively, with each winning ticket returning a hefty $10,336 for the 50-cent investment. Using the regular takeout rate, the payoff would have been $9,229, a difference of a cool $1,007 for each ticket holder. Now that’s value. The 50-cent Pick 5 will once again get the card started on Friday evening, while the 20-cent Pick 4 is decided on the penultimate four contests on the 13-race program.
(With files from Cal Expo)