Sacramento, CA --- The Jodie Svendsen Breast Cancer Awareness Pace, headed by the razor-sharp Split Ticket, a pair of $15,000 Sire Stakes for the 2-year-olds and two divisions of the first leg of the Desmond Series are on tap at Cal-Expo on Saturday night (Oct. 23).

Split Ticket will be gunning for his fifth straight victory in the Open Pace. The 6-year-old son of Bettor's Delight closed out his Indiana Downs campaign with a pair of overpowering victories in September, including a 1:50 lifetime best tour, then returned to California and has rattled off two solid victories this month at the top rung.

Luke Plano handles Split Ticket, who races for the partnership of Richard Morita, David Yamada and David O'Hara and takes his lessons from Liberio Pacheco. He came from last to get the job done here on October 2 at 40 cents on the dollar, then was 1-5 for his recent appearance two weeks ago and put his versatility on display with a gate-to-wire performance that saw prevailing by 3-1/2 lengths.

Bob Johnson sends out a pair of major players in Keystone Eli and Ultimate Desire, while Rick Plano will also take two shots at the favorite with the entry of Cowboy Hanover and Living It Up. The Nathalie Tremblay-conditioned Cycle Power will complete the field.

The two Sire Stakes will go as non-betting events prior to the regular program, with Shamderock looking for a second trophy in the pacing division, while Im So Sulky attempts the trophy encore with the trotters.

Shamderock is a homebred son of Hi Ho Silverheel's who carries the banner of D&E Racing and is reined and trained by Rick Plano. He comes into this assignment with a win and a second from his three trips to the post.

After a needed late September debut, Shamderock took down the first big-money event of the year for his division as he overcame a mid-backstretch incident and went on to a three-quarter length victory that evening with Rick at the controls. Luke Plano did the honors in a conditioned event last week as the youngster put in a :27.3 final quarter to fall a neck short of catching the promising 3-year-old No Storm Damage.

Spoons was third in that first stakes clash two weeks ago after suffering a troubled trip and came back with a sharp victory last week to earn his graduation papers. Desomer Stables and Chris Bardis own and bred this Power Of Art offspring with Vickie Desomer the conditioner and Lemoyne Svendsen handling the lines.

Rounding out the cast are Millions, The Power Load and Achy Breaky Art.

The first trotting stakes for the youngsters found Im So Sulky posting a two length decision in coast-to-coast fashion for owner/trainer Alan Anderson and pilot Steve Wiseman. He will be challenged by Final Chapter with Rich Wojcio, Lodi Nickolus for Pierre Girard and Tangled Web with Steve Desomer.

The first leg of the Desmond will go as races 11 and 14 on the program. The series is designed for pacers who are offered for $2,500 base claiming prices this week, then carry $3,500 base tags next week with no claiming in the November 6 finale.

The first division looks very contentious, with Mac’s Derrick T exiting the Gee Gee Digger series where he was a game winner of the first two legs before being hard used and tiring in the final, which was captured by his stablemate Mad River Hanover.

He figures to get plenty of competition from Shoot The Works, who has been meeting tougher company in his last pair; Blissfull Winds, who is eyeing his third straight score; and Awesome Deal, who is very sharp at the moment.

The other division brings out Accent Seelster, who was a sharp victor two back and was up in class for his most recent runner-up finish. Yougotwhatuwant looped rivals to pick up his overdue first snapshot of the season last time, while Exit Hanover is a hard-knocking veteran who would appear to be a good fit with these.

Both of these races should prove very interesting as they vie for slots in the final.

Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Thursday (Oct. 21) and continues through Saturday (Oct. 23). Post time on Thursday is at 6:25 p.m. (PDT). Post time on Friday (Oct. 22) is at 5:40 p.m. Approximate post time on Saturday is 5:45 p.m.