Over Ice, an accomplished stakes winner from western Canada, gets top billing in her U.S. debut in California Sire Stakes action on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Cal Expo.
Watch and Wager LLC will present 10 races with first post set for 6:35 p.m. (PST) and the $20,000 USD Sire Stakes contest goes as the fifth contest on the program.
Over Ice is by Custard The Dragon and is owned and was bred by the J J J Stables with Gordie Graham training and Nick Roland guiding.
The dark-hued miss has won half of her 22 lifetime appearances with multiple stakes trophies on her mantle and has posted a pair of double-digit qualifying wins at Cal Expo over the last two weeks to prepare for this assignment.
Overthemoonforyou is a daughter of Karpathian Kid who is owned by QKS Racing, takes her lessons from Quentin Schneider and will once again have Aaron Lehman in the sulky.
The bay miss is seeking her sixth straight victory and her seventh snapshot from eight starts at this meet, each of those tallies coming in stylish fashion.
Overthemoonforyou captured the Jack Williams final two weeks ago, proving a punctual 2-5 favourite that evening in coast-to-coast fashion. She came back last week to handle a conditioned field by three lengths while racing over a sloppy track.
Completing the field are Apple Juice, TJB Secreharriet, Senorita Draco, Another Tuff Woman and Little Miss Boss.
Lehman making presence felt
Aaron Lehman is making a very nice impression in the sulky at Cal Expo, including winning six of seven starts with Kim and Quentin Schneider’s pacing distaffer Overthemoonforyou.
A 22-year-old Wisconsin native, Aaron grew up in Amish country and wasn’t introduced to harness racing until four years ago.
“I was hauling some horses here for Mel Mullet, and that’s when I met Kim and Quentin,” Lehman explained. “They’ve been excellent teachers.”
Aaron started at the bottom and worked his way up for the Schneiders, with his first drive coming on the Wisconsin fair circuit two years ago.
He made an immediate impression at this meet when he guided Overthemoonforyou to a 45-1 upset for the Schneiders on opening night. Five more wins from the last six starts have followed, including the Jack Williams final last month.
“She’s been unexpected and awesome,” her pilot related. “That first drive I had no idea what to expect, but she just took off at the half.”
Overthemoonforyou crushed them in the Jack Williams Prep and Final, going coast-to-coast in the latter under confident handling from her young companion. A conditioned victory followed last week over a sloppy track for this dynamic duo.
(with files from Cal Expo)