The $10,000 Alan Kirschenbaum Pace and a pair of $7,000 California Sire Stakes for four-year-old pacers are the highlights on Saturday night’s Cal Expo program.
Watch and Wager LLC will present 13 races and things get underway at 4:50 p.m.
Saturday night’s Alan Kirschenbaum Pace is named for the longtime owner and breeder and past president of the California Harness Horsemen’s Association who passed away in 2012.
Kirschenbaum was a major factor in California as an owner, breeder and amateur driver for many years. With his stallions Little Steven and British Sterling standing at Cherry Tree Farm in Wilton, he helped support the industry in California.
For several years, he even waived his stallion fees to help horsemen in the Golden State breed their mares to help the horse population survive. He was also a huge supporter of the California Sire Stakes and amateur races.
The Kirschenbaum Pace, for pacing fillies and mares, is headlined by Bertha Vanation and River Lassena. Bertha Vanation has been facing the best distaffers on the grounds and should appreciate getting away from some of the big guns, while River Lassena has won five of her last six starts and obviously looms large again.
Bertha Vanation is a six-year-old daughter of Voracious Hanover who is owned by Cathy Dessert and is reined and trained by Nick Roland. She has captured 20 of her 83 starts with $146,000 in her account and a 1:53.2 mark that was set here in January.
The bay miss began the year with back-to-back scores in the Open, sitting stalking trips on both occasions and pouncing in the stretch to get the job done. She shaved two ticks off her lifetime standard with the second of those tallies.
River Lassena has been on a tear here of late for owner Mark Anderson, trainer Gordie Graham and pilot Tony Kerwood, handling softer company in dominating fashion as the prohibitive favourite. It will be interesting to see how she fares in this spot.
Taking on this pair are Royal Mistress, Brooklyn Moonshine, Relentless Dancer, Steady Breeze, Roaring Home, Paloma Ruiz and Exsqueezeme.
Meanwhile, the two Sire Stakes are headed by Winihavetime and Prom Queen in the filly section and Its Pointless among the colts and geldings.
Turnabout is fair play for Lodi Phillip
He had to wait two weeks, but Lodi Phillip got his opportunity to shine in last Sunday’s California Sire Stakes for the three-year-old pacing males.
In the first big-money face-off of the season for this group on March 21, Lodi Phillip was locked in along the rail and never had a chance, finishing fifth behind Believe In Dragons that evening.
There were no such issues last weekend, however, as Luke Plano guided the Another Mile homebred right to the front, took complete control of things from that point and reported home with a length and a half to spare while earning his first trophy.
Lodi Phillip carries the banner of Mary Harris and Pierre Girard, takes his lessons from Greig Watson and is proof once again that revenge is a dish best served cold.
(Cal Expo)