Aint She Special, going in razor sharp form at the moment, eyes her third straight snapshot in Friday night’s featured $7,000 USD Filly and Mare Open Pace at Cal Expo.
There will be 10 races decided on Friday under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post set for 6:45 p.m.
A five-year-old daughter of American Ideal, Aint She Special is owned by Dave Haness and Luke Plano with Plano doing the driving and training. The bay miss is coming off back-to-back scores while making every pole a winning one on both occasions, the most recent from the outside slot in a season's best 1:53.4. She is the 2-1 morning line favourite in Friday's affair and will start from post five in the field of a half dozen distaffers.
Crazy Cute was Aint She Special’s most immediate victim in last week’s clash and will be looking for some revenge for owners Barbara Arnstine, Stephen Chambers and Kathie Plested, who also handles the training duties, and regular pilot Mooney Svendsen.
Set to take her on are Velocity McSweets with James Kennedy; Starzznstripes, to be handled by Sean Smithpeters; Give Me This Dance and Jake Cutting; and Graceful Horizon, who leaves from the outside slot with Nick Roland at the controls.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s card, a pair of $20,000 California Sire Stakes for the four-year-old pacers will command the spotlight. During the first round of Sire Stakes action for this group, Cenalta Token posed for a winner's circle picture following the contest for the mares while Polar Storm got the job done in the event for the males. Both will be back in action on Sunday in hopes of picking up another trophy.
Urkillinmesmalls leaves Ehrlich amazed
When the horses hit the wire and announcer Scott Ehrlich comes with “Are you kidding me!” you know we just witnessed something unusual.
That was the case last week when Urkillinmesmalls, leaving from the outside post in a field of eight, was parked the mile for driver/trainer Jesse Pacheco and just kept on keeping on to prevail by three-quarters of a length in 1:55.1 to the tune of a $75 payoff.
“I went into the race figuring him the longest shot on the board, especially since Nick Roland chose off of him and the fact that he drew the outside post,” related Ehrlich. “Then he parks the mile, fighting throughout, which added to my mindset that he would have to tire. So, despite the fact that he had the lead with an eighth to go, I unintentionally overlooked him.
“All the while, I was scanning the other horses across the track, trying to find the one with the most pace. When I saw Urkillinmesmalls prevailing in deep stretch, I simply exclaimed what I couldn’t believe: ‘Are you kidding me!’”
For the record, Ehrlich has returned to the booth at Cal Expo this season after having called from September of 2005 until January of 2013, and he also has announced at Cumberland in Maine since April of 2021 and will return there in May.
(With files from Cal Expo)