Nebble Hanover aims for sweep in $30,000 Horowitz Memorial

Nebble Hanover (Well Said), a dominating winner in the first two legs, heads the harness racing cast for Sunday night’s (Jan. 1) $30,000 Alan Horowitz Memorial Pace at Cal Expo Harness.

Watch and Wager LLC will present 11 races with a first post of 4:55 p.m. The co-features are an Open Trot featuring Pridecrest and a Distaff Open Pace.

A 4-year-old Pennsylvania-bred mare, Nebble Haover is unbeaten in her five starts at this meet for her owner/driver/trainer Chip Lackey and is eyeing her 16th win overall from 58 trips to the post.

Nebble Hanover started this session with a victory at the Open level, cruised through the Bill Vallandingham Pace with a pair of easy scores and has come back with equal ease to account for the first two legs of the Horowitz.

Sent off at 10 cents on the dollar in her division of Leg 2 on Monday, Lackey sent his charge to the front past the quarter, and she prevailed by a length and a half over Flying Officer.

Lackey also guided the winner of the other division on that program as he made every pole a winning one behind Ideal One A (American Ideal) for owner William Neumeister and trainer Bob Johnson.

The 11-year-old gelding is looking to add to a $160,000 bank account this weekend and will have Bard Irvine at the controls.

Rounding out the field, from the rail out are Rockinscience, Villa Fore Rent, Flying Officer, Prom Queen, Some Playa, Pecorino, Rockin Jimmy Brown and Impressive Art.

Firenado gaining fans, respect at windows

After scoring back-to-back wins at 8-1 and 32-1, the bettors finally caught on last time and hammered Firenado (Mystician) down to 4-5 as he pulled off the hat trick over a sloppy track with Luke Plano.

A 4-year-old Alberta homebred, Firenado goes about his business for owner/trainer Kelly Crump and appears to have taken a real liking to the one-mile oval here in Sacramento.

“We brought him down here because he gets over a mile track better than a smaller one and it’s easier for him than those tighter turns at Century Downs,” Crump related. “He needed that first start here and he’s been awfully good since then.”

Firenado began his hat trick with a minor upset with Plano at the helm on December 9, then took on tougher company a week later and was dismissed at 32-1 with Brad Irvine guiding and used a three-wide move to get the money.

Over a sloppy track on Monday, the players were all over the pacer at odds-on and he rewarded that confidence with a three-length score while coming from far back with Plano back in the bike.

Kelly admits he was a little concerned with the track condition for his last appearance, but despite a little slipping according to Plano he was a real pro and swallowed up the competition in the stretch once again

And what about that unique name? “We actually had a contest on Facebook, and it was a California player named Azarik Sivatijian who won,” Crump explained.

by Mark Ratzky, for Cal Expo Harness