The first California Sire Stakes of the year is on tap Friday night, Feb. 7 at Cal Expo with the four-year-old male pacers vying for a $20,000 USD purse.
The main event will be the fourth race, with post time for the nine-race card set for 6:45 p.m.
The 2-1 morning line favourite in the field of seven is post three starter Alien Art Form, a son of Outrageous Art who is leased, trained and driven by Ryan Grundy and already has a Sire Stakes trophy on his mantle from last season. He recorded his most recent victory two back in one of the eliminations for the Steve Wiseman Memorial, then had a rough trip in last week’s final over a sloppy track and finished off the board behind favoured Sign Of The Times.
Search And Destroy was a solid third in the Wiseman final and looms a major player from post five for driver/trainer Nick Roland and owner Set The Pace Racing. The Special Forces gelding captured a conditioned race at Cal Expo on Jan. 18 with a powerful burst turning for home and sports a 1:55 lifetime mark that was established last year at Running Aces.
Alien Art Form's stablemate Senga Napalm will start from the outside post seven with Rene Goulet driving for Grundy while Search And Destroy will be sandwiched between his barn buddies, Rocklikehurricane from post four with James Kennedy aboard and Celebrity Status with Roland driving from post six.
Completing the field with the inside posts are Sylvester, to be driven by Brett Erickson for conditioner Darryl Cutting, and the Bob Johnson-trained Bro Hug, with Mooney Svendsen in the sulky.
Looking ahead to Saturday, the four-year-old pacing mares will be in Sire Stakes action with Over Ice and Overthemoonforyou heading the cast.
Silverhill Volo Still Has Winning Spirit
Score one for the senior citizens as the 14-year-old trotter Silverhill Volo was guided to victory last week by his 72-year-old driver, trainer and owner, Chip Lackey.
“I’ve had him for about seven years now,” Lackey related after last week’s score. “He’s bred to be a good one. He’s by Muscle Hill and his dam [Silver Springs] was well-bred and won the Hambletonian Oaks.”
It was the 44th lifetime score for the gelding, who has become a mainstay at this track for the past several seasons, putting his career bank account at $312,205.
Silverhill Volo may not be the same force he once was, but a drop into conditioned company proved the winning formula last week while having no trouble with the sloppy going.
Lackey was parked to the two-hole past the quarter with his veteran performer, was out to command on the final bend and went on to a handy 2-1/2-length score in 2:00.3 while returning $16 to his backers.
Silverhill Volo and Lackey will be back in action in Friday evening’s third race.
(With files from Cal Expo)