A Major Omen aiming for Cal Expo triple

A Major Omen (Art Major), fresh from back-to-back victories at the head of the class, looks to extend that streak in Sunday night’s (Feb. 25) featured harness racing Open Pace.

Watch and Wager LLC will present 10 races with things getting underway at 5:05 p.m.

A Major Omen is an 8-year-old who is owned and trained by Gerry Longo with Luke Plano at the controls.

The veteran pacer comes into this assignment with 43 wins from his 155 career outings with $435,000 in his bank account and a 1:49 2/5 mark that was established at The Meadowlands.

A Major Omen has posed for pictures following four of his last six starts here, including the last pair with Plano doing the honors.

He went coast-to-coast in his February 9 score and held safe by a neck over Allmyx’sliventexas, then made a power brush to the lead past the quarter in last week’s decision while going on to a two and a half-length victory.

Allmyx’sliventexas has completed the exacta in both of A Major Omen’s scores and will be looking for some revenge for owner/breeder Wayne Knittel, trainer Bob Johnson and pilot Mooney Svendsen.

Rounding out the field are Sullenberer, Major Ofrense, Officer Jim, Kamara, Chase The Gold, Rock’s Image and Alilthundadownunda

Handsome Harvey (Special Forces) comes into this week’s action having posed for pictures following his last two outings, giving him an impressive .400 batting average from his 48 career trips to the post.

He’s rewarded the chalkplayers in those last two scores, most recently off a perfect pocket trip behind another classy pacer in Dancin Lance, who carved out some snappy fractions that night.

A 5-year-old, Handsome Harvey is owned by Dave Haness and Luke Plano, with Luke doing the driving and training.

“My dad (Rick) trained for Dave and I’ve had horses for him full time for about the last three years,” Plano related.

“When we bought Handsome Harvey he was racing at the fairs in Iowa and was eligible for non-winners of one.

“We like to buy horses with conditions, develop them and gradually work them up the ranks,” Luke explained.

“We gave him some extra time off following Running Aces last year and he came back bigger and stronger, but there was also an issue with him being overly aggressive in his races.

“I adjusted his equipment in his last two starts and he’s been much easier to manage. He’s working his way back up to the Open ranks.”

by Mark Ratzky, for Cal Expo Harness