Pacinello Sets Sights On New Challenge
Thursday, June 4, 2009 - by Mark Ratzky, Publicity -- Cal-Expo

Having completely dominated his peers at this track, Rick Plano has sent Pacinello back East where he hopes a start in the $1 million Meadowlands Pace is in the colt’s future.
 
Pacinello has been nothing short of sensational here over the last few months, as the D&R Racing homebred son of Little Steven made a clean sweep of the four stakes and set a new track record for sophomore colts on May 9 with his 1:51.4/5 Sire Stakes romp.
 
He departs with a six-race win streak in tow, and his average winning margin from those outings is close to six lengths.  It’s safe to say Pacinello has just been toying with his foes, but the water is going to get decidedly deeper in the coming months.
 
“He’s the best colt I’ve ever trained, and that’s saying something when you look at horses like The Starting Gate and some of the others I’ve had over the years,” Plano related.
 
“He’s not nominated to any of the stakes races back East, so we’ve sent him out to see how he does and then we’ll make a decision about supplementing.  If he’s what I think he is, he deserves a shot in the Meadowlands Pace, but that’s going to be a lot of money to put up.”
 
Pacinello’s first stop on his Eastern foray comes this Sunday over the five-eighths Tioga Downs track in New York.
 
“My son Luke is going to fly in to drive him and we’ll get a chance to see how he races over a smaller track.  I’d like to race him three or four times in June and eventually move over to the Meadowlands.”
 
We’ll keep you updated on this dark-hued local hero, and it would certainly be something if he made the field for the prestigious Meadowlands Pace against the best 3-year-olds in the country.