A pair of $20,000 Sire Stakes for the four-year-old pacers are on tap Sunday (April 2) at Cal Expo with Divine Art and JP Jetty eyeing their respective second trophies at this meet.
The two Sire Stakes headline a 12-race Watch and Wager LLC program with first post set for 4:55 p.m.
Divine Art is a daughter of Outrageous Art who is owned, trained and driven by Gerry Longo and comes into this assignment with 23 wins from her 32 starts, $353,000 in her bank account and 1:53.2 mark that was set at Century Downs and equalled at this oval.
Divine Art came into this meet riding a 12-race winning streak and added five more in a row here before finishing second to arch-rival Give Me This Dance in the first Sire Stakes of the season on Feb. 19.
The hard-knocking mare has two wins and a second since suffering that setback, with a Sire Stakes tally in the slop and most recently a coast-to-coast decision in the Alan Kirschenbaum Memorial.
Taking on Divine Art and Give Me This Dance are Park Withme Nancy, Anotherblaznwoman and Cenalta Flash.
Looking at the race for the males, JP Jetty is a son of Mystery Chase who carries the banner of QKS Racing, hails from the Quentin Schneider barn and will have Mel Mullet in the sulky. JP Jetty accounted for the first Sire Stakes of the season for this division on February 17, storming from off the pace.
Rounding out the field are Minnekhada Joe, Worthy Opponent, Roscoe P Coletrain and Cenalta Hawk.
Wonder Of Love loves to win races
Wonder Of Love has proven to be a solid claim for owner/trainer Kimberly Hines and she’ll set her sights on another victory at the head of the class when she suits up in Sunday’s co-featured Filly and Mare Open Pace.
The five-year-old daughter of Shadyshark Hanover was red-tagged from a $6,000 optional claiming race on Feb. 10 and has has prevailed in three of her five starrts for Hines, giving her an eight-for-10 record on the year.
Last week’s Open score was certainly one of her best miles, as she never saw the rail but dug in gamely for new pilot Mooney Svendsen to prevail over Salary, who she had followed for the entire 1:54.4 tour.
In the evening’s sixth race, the Sire Stakes for the four-year-old pacing males, Mel Mullet will be re-united with JP Jetty for the first time since guiding that one to a trophy-earning mile on Feb. 17 in sparkling style.
Mullet, a 28-year-old Wisconsin native, was exposed to the trotters and pacers from as far back as he can remember courtesy of his father Noah, who owned them.
“I knew it was something I always wanted to do,” said Mullet. “I got a great education working with Chris Frendzel back home and Quentin Schneider here and at Running Aces.”
(Cal Expo)