by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — Robin Branca has been a harness fan since 1969 and an owner for many of those years, and still finds that special excitement when one of his performers wins a race.

That was certainly the case last week, when Power Of Key Largo, the pacing filly he co-bred and owns with Catalina Arriaga and Dan Tulio, got the job done at Cal-Expo at 12-1 for trainer Matias Ruiz and pilot James Kennedy.

Branca was asked about his beginnings in the sport that has given him so much pleasure over the last four decades.

“I had just come back from Vietnam and I used to go to the harness races at Hollywood Park on Friday and Saturday nights,” related the Southern California native. “My dad got into a partnership on some horses with five of his friends, and I ended up taking a part of his end.”

As is usually the case, the first horse to compete for the partnership hit the winner’s circle at Los Alamitos in 1972.

“It was a pacer named Andys Nino for Del Cronk. I was hooked more than ever after that race.”

Two performers who have competed under the Branca banner stand out, those being the pacing mare Pickalady and the trotter Rowdy Hunter. The former was a stakes winner for Robin and Frank and Lee Binder and was conditioned by Leo Lacoste. Rowdy Hunter, meanwhile, had a link to that original partnership with his father and his five friends.

“One of the original three horses in the package was a pacing mare named Zesty Miss. We ended up breeding her to Hunters Star, who was a trotter, and got a trotting colt in Rowdy Hunter. He was a real nice one and a stakes winner for us.”

Now all these years later, the beat still goes on with Power Of Key Largo providing the most recent enclosure snapshot to the Branca collection.

“Winning never gets old,” Branca concluded.

Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Thursday (Nov. 4) and continues through Saturday (Nov. 6). Approximate post time is 5:45 p.m. (PDT).