Sire Stakes For Colts In Saturday Spotlight At Cal Expo

Sire Stakes For Colts In Saturday Spotlight At Cal Expo
Thursday, December 8, 2011 - by Mark Ratzky, Publicity -- Cal Expo

The 3-year-old pacing and trotting males do battle in a pair of $15,000 California Sire Stakes at Cal Expo on Saturday night (December 10), with Shamderock and Live A Little the main players in the pacing event while Im So Sulky is strictly the one to beat in the trotting end.

Shamderock had captured all 10 added-money events for his pacing division going into the most recent stakes clash two weeks ago, but was upset that evening by Live A Little; while Im So Sulky is looking to make a clean sweep of the big-money gatherings at the current meet for his trotting group.

Shamderock, a Hi Ho Silverheels homebred who race for D&E Racing Inc with Luke Plano doing the driving and training, carved out all the fractions that night but was overpowered by Live A Little. He comes into this assignment with just over $100,000 in his bank account and a 1:52 career standard that was established this summer at Vernon Downs.

Live A Little is a Crisis Situation homebred who carries the banner of Wayne and Rod Knittel with Bob Johnson the conditioner and Lemoyne Svendsen doing the honors. He added a conditioned victory last week and has now posed for pictures following four of his 11 lifetime trips to the post.

Taking on this dynamic duo are Badger Creek, who has the one-hole with Harold Herrera giving directions; and a pair of Team Desomer representatives in Spoons, who will have Steve Wiseman guiding; and No Strings with James Kennedy in the sulky from the outside post.

Im So Sulky appears to hold the aces in the trotting end for owner/trainer Alan Anderson and pilot Steve Wiseman. He has completed dominated his rivals in all three stakes tests at this session. That contest will go as a non-betting event prior to the regular program with Lodi Kristopher (Scott Cisco) and Lodi Nickolus (Pierre Girard) taking him on.

The co-feature is a $3,600 conditioned/optional claiming pace that kicks off the 13-race card. One And Only is coming off a tough beat at this level with Jim Lackey as he faces Hi Ho Hi Ho, Hollywood Lenny, Stanza and Western So.

Live racing resumes at Cal Expo on Thursday (December 8) at 5:30 p.m. (PST) and continues on Friday (December 9) & Saturday (December 10) at 6:00 p.m. On Thursday and every live card, Cal Expo offers free admission, as well as free preferred & general parking after 4:30 p.m. Also on Thursday night from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Cal Expo offers a complete Lasagna dinner, which includes salad and bread, for just $3.00. Additionally on Thursday, beer & wine can be purchased for $3.00 each as well.

Cal Expo now offers a reduced 15 percent takeout rate on all Pick 4’s (Thursday/Friday nights in partnership with the USTA Strategic Wagering Committee). In addition, all Late Pick 4’s will come with a $10,000-guaranteed pool. On Saturday night, there will be a 0% takeout on successful Late Pick 4 tickets made at Cal Expo or at Twinspires.com.