Friday Trot Lures Franks Best, Alpine Hawk At Cal Expo

Friday Trot Lures Franks Best, Alpine Hawk At Cal Expo
Thursday, September 8, 2011 - by Mark Ratzky, Publicity -- Cal Expo

Franks Best and Alpine Hawk, who put on quite a show last week when one-two at the head of the trotting class, get another chance to settle the score in Friday night’s (September 9) $4,500 headliner at Cal Expo.

Franks Best prevailed last week by a head over Alpine Hawk as he was making his first start since June, while his rival was competing for the first time since April. Both figure to move forward with that race under their belts and it should be very interesting.

A 4-year-old homebred son of Armbro Scribe and the American Winner mare Inside Edition, Franks Best is owned, trained and was bred by Bob Johnson, with Lemoyne Svendsen handling the lines. Last week’s score put him over the $100,000 earnings plateau and he sports a 1:57.4 mark that was set here earlier in the year.

The Johnson representative crushed his rivals in an August 20 qualifier, waltzing home with 13 lengths to spare in that mile. That set him up nicely for last week’s return to the wars with Jim Lackey guiding. He made every pole a winning one, opening a clear advantage at mid-stretch and just holding safe over the odds-on Alpine Hawk.

The latter is a 10-year-old Movie Mogul offspring who carries the banner of Jim Winske, takes his lessons from Gordy Graham and has Rich Wojcio in the sulky. He has won five of his 11 appearances this season, is at the $150,000 earnings mark and established his 1:56.4 career standard three years ago.

Alpine Hawk closed out the spring session by chasing home the classy Claudius Augustus in three straight outings, with two seconds and a third for those efforts. He had a good qualifier on August 27, then put in a :28.3 final quarter while coming from fourth in last week’s return, but fell a head short of catching Franks Best that evening.

Rounding out the cast are Noble Way, who will be handled by Luke Plano; Putoneonnetformom with Rocky Stidham; and Giles L S Hanover, who has Steve Wiseman giving directions. A 14-race card is on tap, with main event set as the second on the evening.

Her Recent Work Has Been A Pip

Pip’s Jenny G hasn’t been around forever, it just seems that way. The 10-year-old pacing mare has 39 victories from her 248 trips to the post, with 31 seconds and 41 thirds thrown in for good measure.

The popular veteran, who goes about her business for Juan Pacheco with Dario Solares the conditioner, will be gunning for four in a row, this weekend with Rich Wojcio at the controls. She closed out the fall session with an easy tally, and has romped home in her two outings at this meet.

“These have been pretty easy wins for her, and she’s been awfully strong at the end,” related Scott Cisco, who has driven her in her last two victories. “It seems like she enjoyed the break, the time off did her a lot of good and she’s come back fresh. The trainer has also done a great job having her ready.”

Cisco, who is off to a solid start here, acknowledged that being behind a performer like Pip’s Jenny G makes his job a whole lot easier.

“She’s one of those horses that know exactly what they’re doing out there, and you basically just point her in the right direction. She’s an absolute pleasure to drive.”

Beginning this week, Cal Expo will offer a reduced 15 percent takeout rate on Saturday for both Pick 4’s. In addition, the late Pick 4 will come with a $15,000-guaranteed pool and there will be a 0% takeout on successful Late Pick 4 tickets made on track or at Twinspires.com.

Live racing resumes at Cal Expo on Friday (September 9) & Saturday (September 10) at 6:00 p.m. (PDT). On Friday, Cal Expo offers Happy Hour between 6:00-8:30 p.m., where $2 Beer, $2 Wine & $2 Buffalo Wings an order is offered. On Saturday, its Dollar Night, on which hot-dogs; beer, soda, and wine will be sold for one dollar from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s program, the out-of-state simulcast action will include the $342,875 Cane Pace Final for 3-year-old colts from Tioga Downs in New York, along with its filly counterpart, the $125,000 Shady Daisy.