California Sire Stakes headed in right direction

A $20,000 California Sire Stakes for 4-year-old harness racing mares that brings out Stevies Girl (Wind Me Up) and Made Of Misschief (Vlos) heads the marquee on a special Saturday night (Feb. 10) program at Cal Expo.

There are 12 races on tap under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post at 5:45 p.m.

A reminder there will be no racing on Super Bowl Sunday, with the regular Friday/Sunday schedule returning next week.

Stevies Girl was bred by Barbara Arnstine and she co-owns with Steve Chambers and trainer Kathie Plested.

She will be making her first appearance since competing in the $65,000 Championship at Running Aces in mid-September and had a sharp qualifier here last week with Mooney Svendsen.

Made Of Misschief is also making her first start since that September 16 contest at Running Aces for owner/breeder Lanae Hernandez and trainer Bob Johnson with Luke Plano at the controls.

She looked to be in need of her qualifying mile here and should be very much at home with this group.

Trainer Rene Goulet will send out a pair in the main event with Cenalta Token and Cenalta Memories representing the barn. Jake Cutting will give directions behind the former while Goulet will be handling the lines aboard Cenalta Memories.

Completing the field are the Bevan Perriton-trained Chandon with Nick Roland and Hot N Fancy from the Emilio Cisneros shedrow with Chip Lackey doing the honors.

Sire Stakes headed in right direction

This meeting features a total of $420,000 in California Sire Stakes events, including a pair of $50,000 finales for 4-year-olds to be decided on May 3.

To give you some idea how things have improved, in 2017 there was a total of $54,000 paid out for the Sire Stakes with a pair of $10,000 finals.

The California Sire Stakes program was on the verge of extinction when legislation was passed in 2017 that opened up these races to horses bred in other jurisdictions.

Eligible now are horses from Alberta, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Maine and from only a dozen horses that were able to compete in 2016 there are now 60 eligible performers this year.

This was all due to the hard work of Watch and Wager, the Sire Stakes Committee and the California Harness Horseman’s Association working diligently with the state legislature.

by Mark Ratzky, for Cal Expo Harness