by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — One of Team Desomer’s representatives in this weekend’s opening round of stakes action for the 2-year-olds is the promising homebred pacing filly Gee Up, who will be making her third trip to the post.

A well-bred daughter of Power Of Art out of the Dignitarian mare Gee Gee Girl, she has been runner-up in both her evening appearances. Ciera Rose denied her in the October 22 debut, then it was Friday rival So Relentless who held her off by three-quarters of a length in last week’s tour.

“We’ve been very pleased with her efforts thus far,” said trainer Vickie Desomer, who now sends the filly out against her peers with the big money on the line. “Of course, being a daughter of Gee Gee Girl, she’s got some very big shoes to fill. She’s a half sister to five horses who won in 1:54 or better, and three of those earned over $100,000.”

Will Gee Up be able to join this elite group? It’s obviously too early to tell, but the bay miss has dropped hints in her first two trips to the post with Etienne Desomer doing the honors and now is certainly the time to start stepping it up with the larger money up for grabs.

The 2-year-olds get their initial chance at the big money this weekend with a quartet of California Sire Stakes for the young trotters and pacers, with the fillies doing battle on Friday (November 6) and the colts holding the spotlight Saturday (November 7). The filly pacing division features an elimination heat this week, with One Hot Tamale from the Rick Plano barn and So Relentless from George Reider’s shedrow likely to have their share of backers.

One Hot Tamale is a Wayne Knittel homebred who has posed for pictures following three of her six starts, including back-to-back tallies in 1:58.4 that should make her the public choice. She sat the pocket in last week’s tour and came home smartly for the decision.

So Relentless is improving with each try and has to be given serious consideration. The Power Of Art offspring races for JJJ Stables and Alan Anderson, takes her lessons from Gordie Graham and will have Rich Wojcio once again doing the honors. This filly was third in her debut two weeks ago, then came back to shave more than two seconds off her previous clocking with a solid stalk-and-pounce decision at most recent asking.

So Relentless has made steady progress with each start, going from a 2:06.1 mile in a qualifier on October 8 to a 1:59.4 victory in a maiden affair last week, and now it’s time to take the step into added-money company.

“She’s out of Bos Gal, who was a real nice mare and won like $350,000,” Graham noted. “Bos Gal was a bit of a hothead, and you could say this filly takes after her mother. That’s why we’ve tried to bring her along slowly, keep her quiet and not get too worked up at the gate.”

Along those lines, driver Wojcio has been careful to keep So Relentless off the pace in her two qualifiers and two evening appearances. In last week’s affair, she did the track-and-attack to perfection, taking command as the field straightened for home and prevailing by three-quarters of a length while shaving more then two seconds off her previous clocking.

“She’d trained real well earlier in the week and it was a good race for her,” Graham related. “Rich said she felt strong, and when she saw the other filly coming on the inside, she responded.”

As far as this week’s stakes engagement is concerned, Gordie admits he hasn’t done much scouting of the opposition.

“I know there are going to be some nice ones in there, like Rick Plano’s filly One Hot Tamale, but you can’t worry about it. You just prep your horse the best you can and go from there.”

Another youngster to watch among the trotting colts is Franks Best, who is owned, trained and was bred by Bob Johnson and will have Lemoyne Svendsen handling the lines. A son of Armbro Scribe and the American Winner mare Inside Edition, he may be ahead of his peers at the moment.

Franks Best lost his chance in his bow when he made a break at the start to lose 20 to 30 lengths, but did very well to rally for the show that evening. There were no mistakes last week, however, as he made what proved to be the winning move at the half and romped home by 5-1/2 lengths in a 2:01.1 performance.