Sacramento, CA — Things were going pretty much according to form in the first four races of last Saturday night’s Pick-5 at Cal Expo, but then Hot Dandy came along and blew up the toteboard with a $95 score for owner Emilio Cisneros, trainer Rick Bertrand and pilot Mooney Svendsen. As a result, the 50-cent Pick-5 went from a modest payoff to a $1,850 return for every winning ticket.

The Pick-5 is one of two value bets offered here at Cal Expo on a nightly basis, featuring a reduced 16 percent takeout rate. The 50-cent Pick-5 is conducted on the first five races, while the 20-cent Pick-4 comes attached with a $30,000 guaranteed pool on Fridays and $40,000 on Saturdays.

To give you some idea of the value added, using the old takeout rate, last Saturday night’s Hot Dandy-infused Pick-5 payout would have been $1,652 instead of $1,850, a difference of $198 per ticket.

Getting back to Hot Dandy, the 5-year-old son of Hot Pans was a little hard to find on paper in the conditioned pacing event, having just a show finish from his half-dozen trips to the post on the year while racing at or about this same level. He turned things around nicely with a sweet stalking trip under Svendsen’s guidance, getting up by a head over Cenalta Dragster for the initial snapshot of 2019.

Open Pace brings out solid line-up

Bettor In The Bank has his sights on a hat trick in Friday evening’s featured $7,000 Open Pace at Cal Expo as he faces a strong cast in the headliner. Watch and Wager LLC will present 11 races with things getting underway at 6:15 p.m. and the main event will go as the fifth event on the program. There are also three California Sire Stakes going as non-betting events prior to the regular card.

Bettor In The Bank is a 9-year-old son of Better Tuwin who races for Debra McCarthy, is conditioned by Gordie Graham and will once again have James Kennedy doing the honors. He has $230,000 in his account and a 1:51.3 mark that was set here last year.

The dark-hued performer comes into this assignment have landed in the charmed enclosure following seven of his 12 trips to the post on the season, including back-to-back scores at the head of the class. In both of those tallies, Kennedy has kept Bettor In The Bank in reserve through the early stages, then flew home in the late stages to prevail by three-quarters of a length and a head, respectively.

After rattling off three straight wins between March 8 and 23, Icy Blue Scooter has had narrow misses in his last two tries, including last week’s clash at this top rung where Bettor In The Bank nailed him on the money. A 6-year-old son of Blue Burner, Icy Blue Scooter is reined and trained by Nate Sobey, who also co-owns the hard-hitting pacer with Diane Bertrand. He recently went over the $100,000 earnings plateau with a 1:52 standard that was established over this layout.