Trotters and Pacers in Cal Expo limelight

A special Saturday night card at Cal Expo Harness finds Dave Goldschmidt winner A Major Omen headlining the Open Pace, while Joe Lighthill hero Pridecrest gets top billing in the harness racing co-featured Open Trot.

Watch and Wager LLC has carded nine races Saturday with the action set to get underway at 6:40 p.m.

A Major Omen has been victorious in both his starts since coming in from Kentucky for his owner/trainer/driver Gerry Longo. The 5-year-old son of Art Major has $185,000 in his bank account and a 1:49 2/5 mark set last year at the Meadowlands.

In the December 10 Goldschmidt, A Major Omen was used hard to the lead past the quarter, was hooked turning for home but dug in gamely to prevail by a head that night as the heavy favorite. He came right back with another victory and does his work from the outside of the eight-horse field.

Pridecrest is three-for-three at the meet since returning from a summer campaign at Running Aces. He races for owner Chris Schick, is conditioned by Kathie Plested and will once again have Mooney Svendsen guiding from the assigned outside post.

He established the Cal Expo track record four years ago when he toured the Sacramento oval in 1:53 3/5 and he’s eying his 49th lifetime trip to the winner’s circle with $420,000 in his bank account.

Sent off at 1-9 in the December 12 Lighthill, Pridecrest left into the pocket behind Silverhill Volo, was out to engage that rival by the half and prevailed by a head in a stretch-long battle with that tenacious rival.

Gerry Longo readies to join 3,000 Club

With his next trip to the winner’s circle, Gerry Longo will be recording his 3,000th career driving victory and he’s about to reach this plateau at 76, an age when most harness pilots are in rocking chairs instead of sulkies.

It all started for Gerry when he was in his in his teens and worked with his mother in the carnival on the California fair circuit.

“They used to have two harness races, two quarter horse races and eight thoroughbred races back in those days,” he recalled. “When we had a break, I would go over and watch them and that’s where I met Larry Gregory.”

Gregory’s grandfather had harness horses and that was Gerry’s introduction to the backstretch, eventually leading to him follow Gregory to Batavia Downs in New York after his graduation from high school.

“It was about two years later that I started driving,” he related. “My first winner was in 1966 at the Tiffien Fair in Ohio. Now I’m about to get number 3,000. Who knew?”

One of Longo’s best years came in 1972, when he set two world records and beat Joe O’Brien for the driving title at Hollywood Park.

And Gerry’s secret to success and longevity? “No drinking, no smoking, no drugs and a lot of hard work,” he answered without missing a beat.

By Mark Ratzky, for Cal Expo Harness