A Girl Named Fred has been getting her share of attention at the current Cal-Expo meeting, and not just for her unusual name.
The three-year-old daughter of Cammibest has left little doubt in either of her two victories, where she utilized the 'stalk-and-pounce' tactic to perfection for driver Steve Wiseman.
Gary Pond owns and bred the lass, who is the second foal out of Pond's Medora Hanover to make it to the races. A Girl Named Fred didn’t make her first appearance until this summer, but she’s certainly making up for lost time. She has recorded three straight victories, dating back to June and the end of Cal-Expo's spring session.
“I bought Medora Hanover out of the Meadows sale as a yearling and she won $124,000 for us,” Pond said. “Her first foal was Drama Princess, and she’s also by Cammibest and raced in some stakes races back east. A Girl Named Fred is a lot like her mother, because they were both a little slow to mature, so she didn’t get start until this spring. She’s also like Medora Hanover in that she does her best when she can sit back early and finish.”
The bay miss has done just that in her two appearances since racing returned at Cal-Expo. She recorded a two and three-quarter-length win during the track's opening week, and she then overcame Post 8 as the even-money favorite during her most recent outing with Wiseman.
“She spent the summer with us at the farm and then she shipped back up here (Cal-Expo) the day before the qualifier,” Pond said. “She got what she needed out of the qualifier, and both of her races have been solid. The fields may have been a little on the soft side, but we’ll take any wins we can get and then move up one class at a time.”
Of course, a discussion about A Girl Named Fred wouldn’t be complete with asking about the name.
“Around our place, any animal that doesn’t have a name is called 'Fred,'” he explained. “I’ve been threatening to name a racehorse Fred for a long time, and when this one came along it looked like it might be my last, so this is what we can up with.”
Mystery solved.
(Cal-Expo)