Allymxsliventexas, ‘Gorgeous’ To Battle

Published: February 21, 2018 02:15 pm EST

A solid $4,400 Open III Pace will get the marquee treatment this Friday night at Cal Expo, and Allmyxsliventexas and Gorgeous For Real are scheduled to be among the major players.

The feature will be decided as the fourth race on the 11-race card under the banner of Watch and Wager LLC with a first post of 6:10 p.m.

Allymxsliventexas and Gorgeous For Real are one of five members of the cast who chased home favoured Im An Athlete in last week’s Open Pace – they checked in second and fifth, respectively, in that contest.

Allymxsliventexas is a five-year-old homebred son of Hi Ho Silverheels who races for Wayne and Rod Knittel with Bob Johnson the conditioner and Mooney Svendsen handling the lines.

Two starts back with Nick Roland at the helm, the Knittel charge was a dominating winner of a conditioned event, and then last week he turned in a solid effort to complete the exacta behind Im An Athlete in a 1:52.4 tour.

Gorgeous For Real has a pair of Open victories to his credit at this meet and found himself with too much work to do from last place in that mile and had to settle for a minor cheque. He is owned by Schwartz, Wilkinson, Axelrod and O’Neill with Junior Wilkinson training and William Hernandez in the sulky.

Rounding out the field, from the rail out: Pancetta with Luke Plano; Julerica, Richard Remillard; One And Only, to be guided by Ryan Grundy; Almost Cut My Hair, also with Svendsen named; and Ragins Flight, who will have the services of Steve Wiseman.

Silverhill Volo shines in Grundy Trot

Chip Lackey worked out a perfect trip with his trainee Silverhill Volo in last weekend’s Jim Grundy Final, as he got up by a head over the favoured Silverlode in the feature.

The trotter, who is co-owned by Lackey and Roland Dekeyser Jr., recorded his biggest victory since joining the barn back in November of 2016.

Silverhill Volo came into the Grundy final off back-to-back tough beats, as he had finished second in the prep after having carved all the fractions, and then dropped a nose decision to division leader Pridecrest in the Open Trot one start back.

“Roland likes trotters and we got this one from Joe Anderson,” Chip related. “He always tries hard, but up until recently, he could be a little silly. He’s learned to sit in a hole now and I was also able to work out some shoeing issues with some very useful help.”

Chip mentioned that a lot of credit for Silverhill Volo’s success goes to Fern Wald, who has a very special bond with the trotter. “I honestly think he digs a little deeper because of her,” he said.

Lackey admits he wasn’t happy when the post positions came out for the final and he was in the No. 6 slot, while main rival Silverlode was a cozy draw in the No. 2 post. “We got lucky and were able to get a good trip, and then he came the fastest final quarter of his life to get up.”

What made the win extra special was it being named for longtime California driver/trainer Jim Grundy, against whom Chip competed for many years and had the utmost respect.

“It was a big thrill to win a race named for Jim Grundy, because he was the best horseman I’ve ever known, in every sense of the word.”

(Cal Expo)

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