The $30,000 USD Alan Horowitz DHA Free-for-All Pace headlines the Friday night action at Cal Expo, with Handsome Harvey and Allmyxsliventexas heading the cast.
Watch and Wager LLC will present nine races and things get underway at 6:45 p.m.
Handsome Harvey made a break to lose his chance in last week’s Lloyd Arnold Free-For-All, but has turned in several solid miles at this meet for owners Dave Haness and Luke Plano, who also trains and drives the five-year-old Special Forces gelding. His most recent snapshot came following the April 5 DHA Free-For-All, when he came flying with a :27.1 final quarter to hang a nose decision on Allmyxsliventexas in 1:53.1 for his 20th career victory. Handsome Harvey is the 2-1 morning line favourite and will start from post five in the nine-horse field.
Allmyxsliventexas comes into this assignment having captured 64 races and $364,449 in his bank account. The Wayne Knittel homebred gelding, who is conditoned by Bob Johnson and will as usual have Mooney Svendsen guiding, last graced the winner’s circle on March 17 when he captured the DHA Free-For-All in coast-to-coast fashion in 1:53.4. The 11-year-old son of Hi Ho Silverheels is the 3-1 second choice and has drawn post eight.
Its Pointless will be making the first start of his seven-year-old campaign from post seven, but the Mark Anderson-owned, Gordie Graham trainee has a couple of very impressive qualifers and must be respected with James Kennedy driving.
Completing the cast are Outlawnoghnbutsmart, Daniels Son, Gee Wilikers, Ragged But Right, Polar Storm and Bunkerhill Phil.
Following this week’s action on Friday and Sunday nights, there will be just one program remaining at the meet on Friday, May 3.
That card will feature a pair of $50,000 USD championship events for the four-year-old pacers, with Gotubydashorthairs and Made Of Mischief heading the contest for the distaffers while Bin A Mystery and Polar Storm figure to battle it out in the male end.
A reminder that the meet's closing night card will also feature mandatory payouts in all wagers.
Speaking of those bets, there are two wagers offered each night that come with a reduced 16 per cent takeout rate -- the 20-cent Pick 5 and the 20-cent Pick 4, with the latter featuring a $25,000 guaranteed gross pool.
Looking at the driver and trainer standings going into the final three programs, the driving crown was decided long ago with Jake Cutting dominating, while Luke Plano is currently six wins ahead of Nick Roland in the trainer race.
(With files from Cal Expo)