Big night for Wiseman at Cal-Expo

A night that started out with four straight winners by driver Steve Wiseman was capped off when he won the feature with Stop Calling.

Conditioned-claiming pacers, racing for a purse of $3,300, were featured at Cal-Expo on Thursday night (April 15), on which Stop Calling scored.

In advance of starting from post-position two in the field of seven, driver Steve Wiseman was respectfully optimistic.

"It was a pretty competitive bunch, but he's a pretty nice horse and I thought I had a decent shot," said Wiseman.

Coming away in third position into a :29 opening quarter, Wiseman soon had to abort a move he thought of making.

"I was actually thinking of going to the front, but when Luke (Plano) pocket pulled to the three-eighths with Coal Younger, I decided to stay put - - which I was fine with."

Remaining in the three-hole through a first-half mile, timed in :58.3, Wiseman moved his charge to the outside well after the 9-16ths mile pole and had his gelding moving so nicely at the five-eighths mile station that Plano was forced to ask for more speed from his pacer.

"I saw that Luke pulled the earplugs on his horse and I was just sitting on my horse and had never even really asked him."

With the pace clearly picking up in the latter part of the third-quarter, Stop Calling and a confident Wiseman drew even just to the three-quarter mile marker, timed in 1:28.1, but there was still more left to do.

"I thought I had a good shot because I still hadn't pulled the earplugs."

Taking a parked-out lead late in the final-turn, Wiseman knew it was time to push the button.

"I popped his earplugs at the top of the lane and he responded well.  That was good because I wanted to get the jump on the rest of the field, and I did."

Drawing clear by 2-1/2-lengths with less than 3-16ths of a mile to go, Wiseman soon had reason to urge his horse.

"He kind of let up a little inside the final sixteenth of a mile, but when he heard them coming again - - he started in again and had enough to hold them off."

Holding on to a dwindling lead, the Mark Anderson owned and trained four year-old won ($5.20) by a head, in 1:55.4.  Got No Troubles (John Chappell) rallied nicely to be second, and Stanza (James Kennedy) finished just a head farther back, in third.

"It was a very good race for him and it gave me six winners on a super night for me where everything was falling in the right place," finished Wiseman.

On the Thursday night card, leading driver Luke Plano matched Wiseman after the first four races when he won races five through eight. (Cal-Expo)

 

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