Housewife with a gap

She hadn't raced in three weeks and was coming off a break, but that didn't stop the talented Desperatehousewife from getting back on the winning track as she captured the Thursday's Invitational Handicap Trot at Cal Expo in 1:57.1.

Before starting from post five in the field of eight, driver Tim Maier got the news he wanted to hear about Desperatehousewife, given she hadn't raced since Feb. 8.

"They told me she had been trained in 2:08 this past Saturday and that they thought she was fit," said Maier. "As far as strategy, the first thing I wanted to do was get her away from the gate trotting because in her last race, she switched over to the pace well before the start. So I just wanted to make sure I got her to the gate early to make sure she was trotting. After that, she's like a pushbutton when you duck her."

Coming away in sixth position and gapping 2 1/4 lengths in the first turn, Maier knew this was the norm.

"I wasn't worried about her gapping, that's how she is," he said.

Back eight lengths at the quarter-mile pole, timed in :29.1, Maier was simply making sure all was smooth. "I wasn't really thinking about too much other than to keep her to her business."

Gapping three lengths to the three-eighths mile pole into a slow second-quarter mile of :30, Maier knew what his plan was when he stayed inside when a chance to pull occurred.

"I didn't want to be first-up, so I thought I'd wait for the two horses behind me (Benn's Fire/Bruce Clarke and Oatmeister/Ed Hensley) to pull. As far as the gapping, like I said, that's her."

Gapping 2 1/2 lengths at the half-mile pole, timed in :59.1, Desperatehousewife would soon find herself last. Now, with the field three-eighths of a mile from home, Maier would pop the earplugs of his charge, who was still gapping, but would now let her pilot know that the business at hand was soon to begin.

"Oh yeah, she picked up the bit when I popped the plugs."

Still gapping though, while remaining at the tail of the field, Maier would move his mare to the outside with cover as the field approached the three-quarter mile pole, timed in 1:28.4. "At that point, I just wanted to keep up with Oatmeister."

Moving three wide to the top of the stretch and brushing nicely, Maier points out that he hadn't intended to be three wide at that point.

"I was actually trying to stay behind Oatmeister, but another horse came out from underneath me and that had me three-wide. Despite the fact that she was brushing, I still didn't know if I'd get a check."

Desperatehousewife would now only be two lengths off the lead with an eighth of a mile to go.

"As I saw that she was gobbling up ground, I started to tap on her tailbone and kept on tapping on her and she kept on going and would just march on by. It wasn't, however, until about 15 yards from the wire, that I thought I was going to win."

Closing with great determination, Desperatehousewife would zoom by at the wire to win by a half length. Owned by Carol Campbell in partnership with trainer Jean MacDonell, Desperatehousewife stopped the timer at 1:57.1, equaling a seasonal best.

"She was super," finished Maier, who had a driving triple.

Oatmeister finished in second, and Benn's Fire, who raced well while first-over, finished another half-length farther back, in third. (Cal Expo)

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