A runner-up in the last three editions of the Gary Budahn Free-For-All, veteran Ontario-bred trotter Pridecrest will be gunning for the victory when the race is renewed at Cal Expo on Friday night, March 21.
The $12,500 USD Budahn, scheduled as the second of nine races, will headline the Watch and Wager LLC program that has a post time of 6:45 p.m. PDT.
Pridecrest will be driven by regular reinsman Mooney Svendsen for trainer Kathie Plested and owner Chris Schick.
The 13-year-old Angus Hall-Spilled Mile gelding will head postward for the 270th time in his career with 65 wins, more than $600,000 in purse earnings and a 1:53.2 lifetime mark taken in his Cal Expo debut back in 2017.
“My favourite trotter used to Claudius Augustus, but now it’s this guy,” said Svendsen.
Of course, Claudius Augustus was a top-class performer at Cal Expo while racing for Gary and Debbi Budahn, bringing things full circle for Mooney. Claudius Augustus still holds the track record at Cal Expo for an aged trotting stallion with his 1:54.3 tour in April of 2008.
“I grew up in Minnesota with Gary and our dads both raced,” related Svendsen. “Winning a race named for him is always special.”
Pridecrest will start from post four while his favoured Plested-trained stablemate, All Champy, has drawn the inside post in the field of five.
Owned by Steve Chambers, All Champy, a winner of four of his seven appearances this season, including a last-out 1:57.1 victory in the Open, will have Nick Roland back in the bike. The 11-year-old Explosive Matter-Avista Hanover gelding is a career winner of 48 races and more than $700,000 from 228 starts.
The field also includes Valottalove, Help Page and Dylan The Great.
(With files from Cal Expo)