Ohoka Jasper scores at Cal-Expo after better start

After never being a factor in his last, Ohoka Jasper got back on the winning track.

Open 1 Handicap trotters, racing for an $8,000 purse, were featured on a windy Thursday night (January 3) at Cal-Expo, in which Ohoka Jasper was the pocket-rocket.

Before starting from his assigned post-three in the field of five over a tracked labeled as sloppy, trainer-driver Rick Plano wasn't afraid to point the finger at himself.

"Last week I got started a little bit late to the gate and in turn missed the gate and it hurt me," said Plano. "So tonight, with me drawing inside of Simply Made (Ed Hensley) and Desperatehousewife (Todd Ratchford), who were the speed horses, I made sure I was on the gate with the plans to leave. He's as good as them if not better when things are right, and tonight I thought things were right."

Leaving for the lead which he'd obtain into the first turn, Ohoka Jasper would yield for the pocket to Simply Made after a first quarter of :28.4, while on his way to getting a perfect trip into a :59.3 first half, which had his pilot feeling confident.

"I felt at the half, that unless something unusual happened, that I knew in the stretch that I'd have a shot up the inside because Simply Made drifts to the outside in the lane."

Remaining in the 'garden seat' at the three-quarter mile station, timed in 1:30, Plano could now see the flash of the photographer’s camera in  the winner's circle.

"I thought it was 'Katie Bar The Door' because I had a lot of unused horse, plus Simply Made was going all she could, plus Desperatehousewife had been first-over and wasn't gaining enough."

With the room he had anticipated becoming available at the seven-eighths mile pole, Ohoka Jasper clearly knew what to do.

"Once I was free up the pylons, it was a cruise trip from there -- I never even had to pop his earplugs."

Quickly trotting through the opening on the inside and taking over the lead with a little more than sixteenth of a mile to go, Ohoka Jasper would draw clear late to win ($9) by 2 1/2 lengths while only given one light urge late.  Owned by Virginia Schick, Ohoka Japer would stop the timer at 2:00.1.  Simply Made finished in second, and Desperatehousewife finished another half of one length farther back, in third.

“It was a good race for him and I didn’t have to use him,” Plano finished. (Cal-Expo)

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