Conditioned-claiming pacers, racing for a purse of $3,300, were featured at Cal-Expo last night over a 'sloppy' track, on which Cycle Power was fastest of all
.
Before starting from Post 3 -- in a field reduced to six as a result of two scratches -- was driver Steve Wiseman concerned that his charge was going from 'non-winners of five' to 'non-winners of eight?'
"Not really because he's a big strong horse who has been coming around; I thought he'd be okay," Wiseman stated.
Coming away in fourth position through first-half fractions of :30 and 1:00.4 set by Rude Awakening (driven by Jim Lackey), Wiseman wasn't worried that he was continuously having to chase after Cycle Power.
"He's kind of a lazy horse to get going, but once he gets going he's fine, so I was just trying to keep him up on the bit pretty good. It didn't concern me because I had to do it last week with him when he won."
Out slightly with cover to the three-quarter mile pole, Wiseman, off a three-quarters timed in 1:30, knew what to expect.
"I knew it was going to come down to a dash, so I was just hoping to get a spot with good footing because the track was pretty slippery. With it I thought I had a decent shot because he can pace home pretty strongly."
Moving four-wide into the stretch and gaining at the seven-eighths mile marker, the four year-old soon was flying with a sixteenth of a mile to go.
"He was good and strong in the stretch and inside the sixteenth pole I thought I had a shot to win with him. As it turned out we got there."
Closing fast to the wire, the Nathalie Tremblay-owned and trained pacer got up on the line to win ($6.20) by one length in 1:58.1. Rude Awakening was a game second, and Got No Troubles (John Chappell) was another two and a half lengths farther back, in third.
"He raced good like he raced last week. It was a very good race for him," finished Wiseman, who had four winners on the night.
Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Friday, April 30 at 5:55 p.m. (PDT), and continues through Saturday, May 1. First-race post time on Saturday is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
(Cal-Expo)