by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — Last week at Cal Expo was one to remember for Luke Plano. In addition to recording Sire Stakes victories with Thatssomebracciola for his dad Rick, and Shamderock for D&E Racing Inc., the 31-year-old earned driving victory No. 2,000 with Natty Lite on Friday evening (Dec. 9).

Shamderock’s victory in the sophomore colt pace was his 11th from the 12 added-money events decided for this group. The only hiccup came on Nov. 26, when he was overpowered by Live A Little, but he left little doubt in that last stakes gathering as he did the track and pounce to perfection for Luke while rewarding the chalk players at 70 cents on the dollar. The Hi Ho Silverheel’s homebred sizzled a mile in 1:52 over the summer at Vernon Downs in New York for his career standard.

Like Shamderock, Thatssomebracciola has established herself at the top of the 3-year-old trotting fillies by posing for snapshots following three of the four Sire Stakes decided at this meeting. Luke sat patiently with this gal for a half, took aim on arch-rival Flea Flicker turning for home and overpowered Mark Anderson’s gutsy distaffer by three-quarters of a length.

“This filly has been in great shape, she raced well and has a bright future,” Plano related.

In addition to this victory and the milestone No. 2,000, he had three other winners on that 13-race program last Friday.

At the beginning of the meet, Luke had stated that he wasn’t sure if he would be joining his father in Florida when the Sire Stakes action was concluded, but related he will indeed be staying put for the time being.

“I’m very happy with the way our horses have been racing and how I’ve done at the meet,” he explained. “The plan now is to stay here until at least March or April, and then we’ll go from there.”

Live racing resumes at Cal Expo on Thursday (Dec. 15) at 5:30 p.m. (PST) and continues on Friday (Dec. 16) and Saturday (Dec. 17) at 6 p.m.