Franky Provolone and Fort Valley As, who chased home division kingpins El Azteca and Its Not Over last week, have received top billing for Saturday night’s featured Open II Trot at Cal Expo.
A 13-race program is on tap Saturday evening under the Watch and Wager LLC banner and first post is set for 6:10 p.m. The main event will go as the third race on the card.
Franky Provolone is an eight-year-old son of Armbro Scribe out of the Donerail mare Simply Royal who is owned by Robin Clements, is conditioned by Vickie Desomer and will have Tim Maier at the controls.
The hard-hitting sidewheeler comes into his Saturday assignment with $160,000 in earnings and a 1:55.4 career standard that was established last season at Running Aces. Franky Provolone will suit up this weekend off three straight strong efforts and is a real nice fit under these conditions.
The Clements colourbearer picked up his first snapshot of the year when he took the measure of a conditioned group on February 28, then came back the following week with a solid runner-up finish at the Open II level. Up to the top rank for his most recent try, Franky Provolone was a good third behind the two big trotters on the grounds.
Fort Valley As looms large in this field after finishing fourth in that El Azteca affair last week in what was his first start since November. The seven-year-old Tom Ridge offspring races for Jennifer Sabot and trainer Gene Vallandingham.
An earner of nearly $490,000, Fort Valley As has a 1:55 career standard and figures to take a nice step forward off last week’s fourth-place finish. No matter how things shake out early, he should be right in the thick of it with that last mile under his belt. Completing the field are Franks Best, Winsom Kelly, Jimmy Shin and Vari Forgetful.
$62,206 Jackpot 6 carryover adds spice
Saturday night will find a $62,206 carryover in the 10-cent Jackpot 6, which means one lucky person could walk away with an awfully sweet payoff.
The Jackpot 6 is one of four wagers on the program that come with a reduced 16 per cent takeout rate. The others are the Hi-5, which like the Jackpot 6 is a 10-cent minimum bet; the 50-cent Pick 5 and the 20-cent Pick 4, which has a $25,000-guaranteed pool.
Taking a closer look at the Jackpot 6, the wager finds 70 per cent of the net pool paying out to tickets with the most winners, with 30 per cent of the net pool designated for the carryover.
If there is one unique ticket selecting six winners, the entire pool and the carryover is paid to the holder of that ticket. If that should happen Saturday night, they would receive the entire net pool and a $62,206 bonus.
With the 10-cent minimum, putting together healthy-sized tickets without spending a lot of money makes the Jackpot 6 even more attractive. Jump right in, the pool is going to be fine.
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The trotters and pacer will be in action on Saturday and Sunday this week, as well as next week on March 28 and 29.
The first week of April will find one week of Friday and Saturday night racing, April 3 and 4, with no racing on Easter Sunday. The schedule will revert back to Saturday and Sunday beginning with the second week in April.
(Cal Expo)