by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — One And Only, who suits up in Saturday night’s (Dec. 10) Cal Expo opener, has been good to those who have backed him in his last seven appearances. During that period he has recorded three victories while returning double figures, including a 16-1 score to kick off the sequence on Oct. 15.

Jim Lackey is the regular pilot for the 3-year-old son of Bettor’s Delight, who carries the banner of Richard Morita and David Yamada and hails from the Liberio Pacheco barn. He’s coming off a narrow loss to Cycle Power under Saturday’s conditions, with that pacer headed back to the winners over ranks.

“I remember Mike Lachance talking about Bettor’s Delight, and he said he was the complete package,” Lackey explained. “I would describe One And Only the same way. I don’t know if he’ll ever be anywhere near as fast as his sire, but he’s an absolute joy to drive and tries hard each and every time. He’s got all the qualities you look for in a racehorse.”

Following back-to-back wins on Oct. 27 and Nov. 4, paying off at 5-1 and 6-1 to his backers, the Pacheco trainee had to settle for fourth-place finishes at this level before the near miss to Cycle Power at most recent asking.

“He was drawn to the outside in those two races before the last one,” Lackey explained. “I saved as much as I could and came home strong in both those races, but they just didn’t set up for him. Last week, I raced him pretty hard early and he never quit trying. It was a game effort for him and Cycle Power, and now we don’t have to chase that one again.”

Sire Stakes for colts in Saturday spotlight at Cal Expo

The 3-year-old pacing and trotting males do battle in a pair of $15,000 California Sire Stakes at Cal Expo on Saturday night, with Shamderock and Live A Little the main players in the pacing event while Im So Sulky is strictly the one to beat in the trotting end.

Shamderock had captured all 10 added-money events for his pacing division going into the most recent stakes clash two weeks ago, but was upset that evening by Live A Little; while Im So Sulky is looking to make a clean sweep of the big-money gatherings at the current meet for his trotting group.

Shamderock, a Hi Ho Silverheel’s homebred who race for D&E Racing Inc. with Luke Plano doing the driving and training, carved out all the fractions that night but was overpowered by Live A Little. He comes into this assignment with just over $100,000 in his bank account and a 1:52 career standard that was established this summer at Vernon Downs.

Live A Little is a Crisis Situation homebred who carries the banner of Wayne and Rod Knittel with Bob Johnson the conditioner and Lemoyne Svendsen doing the honors. He added a conditioned victory last week and has now posed for pictures following four of his 11 lifetime trips to the post.

Taking on this dynamic duo are Badger Creek, who has the one hole with Harold Herrera giving directions; and a pair of Team Desomer representatives in Spoons, who will have Steve Wiseman guiding, and No Strings with James Kennedy in the sulky from the outside post.

Im So Sulky appears to hold the aces in the trotting end for owner/trainer Alan Anderson and pilot Steve Wiseman. He has dominated his rivals in all three stakes tests at this session. That contest will go as a non-betting event prior to the regular program with Lodi Kristopher (Scott Cisco) and Lodi Nickolus (Pierre Girard) taking him on.

Live racing resumes at Cal Expo on Thursday (Dec. 8) at 5:30 p.m. (PST) and continues on Friday (Dec. 9) and Saturday (Dec. 10) at 6 p.m.