Trainer/owner Gordie Graham has taken some time to discuss The Evictor, the 10-year-old son of Valley Victory that has won three of his nine starts this season.
“This horse raced against some of the best trotters in the country and has a lot of back class,” Graham related.
“Having said that, when I got him about four years ago he was in pretty bad shape and the first thing I did was to give him eight months to rehab. It was a slow process with a lot of ice.”
Graham explained that he prefers to race his horses from off the pace – especially the ones like The Evictor who have issues – even though The Evictor trotted a front-end trip last week at Cal Expo and won by nearly five lengths.
Graham explained that keeping The Evictor in race shape is a challenge. “With all his issues, there’s a lot of tubbing and rubbing, but it’s all that more rewarding when he goes a mile like he did last week. He absolutely loves to race.”
Allymxsliventexas Gets The Marquee Treatment
Allymxsliventexas, coming off a sensational mile at the head of the class where he was parked the mile and still gutted out a 1:50.4 score, has gotten the top billing for this Saturday night’s featured $6,000 Open Pace at Cal Expo.
There will be 12 races presented by Watch and Wager LLC with a first post of 6:10 p.m. and the main event is scheduled as the fourth contest on the evening.
A five-year-old homebred son of Hi Ho Silverheels out of the Distinguishedbaron mare Annie Get Your Gun, Allymxsliventexas races for Wayne and Rod Knittel with Bob Johnson conditioning and Mooney Svendsen in his usual spot in the bike. He has been assigned the outside post in the field of six.
Allmymxsliventexas went over the $100,000 earnings plateau with last week’s tally and established a new lifetime mark with the 1:50.4 clocking. Sent off the 7-5 choice in that affair, he was parked the mile from Post 8, but refused to give up and prevailed by a neck over pacesetting Bettors Promise.
The latter is a seven-year-old son of Bettors Delight who goes about his business for Richard Morita and David Yamata, takes his lessons from Lino Pachecho, and has Chip Lackey at the controls.
Third in the Glen Holt Memorial on March 3, he carved out all the fractions in last week’s clash at the top rung and battled it out gamely to come up just short as a 10-1 shot. He has three wins here this season, including a 1:52 lifetime-best performance last month.
Rounding out the field will be One And Only, who gives the Lino Pacheco barn two looks at the outcome; the Luke Plano-trained Eastender; the Jessie Pacheco-conditioned Im An Athlete; and Some Playa from the Jen Sabot barn.
(With files from Cal Expo)