by Mark Ratzky, publicity department, Sacramento Harness Association

Sacramento, CA — A pair of $22,500 California Sires Stakes for the 2-year-old fillies will highlight the Friday (September 14) Cal-Expo program, with My Fanny getting top billing in the pacing contest, while Smooth Jazz and Enscribe continue their rivalry in the trotting end.

My Fanny is a homebred daughter of CR Fandango and the hard-hitting mare My Humbug who is owned by Mary Ann Plano, trained by her husband Rick, and will have Luke Plano giving directions.

The bay miss made her debut in an August 16 maiden event and proved a punctual 6-5 favorite. Then she was able to overcome the tough nine slot to prevail by three lengths in a stakes elimination heat at next asking.

Hammered down to the 1-2 chalk in last week’s first Sires Stakes for the division, My Fanny kept her record unblemished with Luke in the bike. She had to wait behind the leaders on the turn, but was able to swing out into the lane and drew off to a five length romp while equaling her mark with the 1:57.3 final clocking.

Looking at the trotting affair, Smooth Jazz comes into this one with a perfect record from three trips to the post, with the last pair resulting in narrow decisions over Enscribe. This contest will go as a non-betting affair prior to the regular program.

A daughter of Tulane and the Artsplace mare Jazzplace, Smooth Jazz is co-owned by Denise Maier and Margaret Rickard, with Denise doing the training and husband Tim at the controls. After two sharp qualifiers, she made her debut on August 16 and proved a punctual 4-5 choice with a strong finish for a 2-1/4 length tally.

As mentioned earlier, the last two outings have resulted in battle royals with Enscribe. She was on the right end of a nose photo two back, then Smooth Jazz prevailed by a head in the initial stakes gathering for this group two weeks ago.

Enscribe is an Armbro Scribe offspring who races for Desomer Stables, with Vickie Desomer training and husband Steve handling the lines. She has dropped heartbreakers to Smooth Jazz in her last two tries, on both occasions showing the way to the lane under pressure from that rival and gamely battling it out to the line.

Getting revenge no easy task

Even though Enscribe has only missed to Smooth Jazz by a nose and a head in their last two meetings, Vickie Desomer realizes her filly has a lot to do to turn the tables on her arch-rival.

The two will clash again in Friday night’s Sires Stakes for the 2-year-old trotting fillies, which finds Smooth Jazz eyeing her second trophy and fourth win without a loss.

“Enscribe is doing more than we had expected,” Desomer noted when asked about the Armbro Scribe homebred. While she’s yet to win in five appearances, she certainly has thrown a major scare into the heavily favored Smooth Jazz in their last two match-ups.

“Tim (Maier) has had to endure first-over trips in those last two races with Smooth Jazz and our filly still couldn’t get the best of her,” Vickie said. “If their filly follows in the footsteps of the only other Tulane trotter, Hitchiker, then Enscribe will definitely have to do more.”

Desomer knows whereof she speaks when it comes to Hitchiker, a track record holder who swept the eight Sires Stakes here for his division and has been taking on the big guns back East in the interim.

Desomer Stables will also be represented in Friday’s Sires Stakes for the pacing fillies, with the entry of Jungle Girl and Cat Burglar attempting to upset the likely heavy favorite My Fanny.

Live racing will resume at Cal-Expo on Friday (September 14) and continue through Saturday. Post time on Friday and Saturday is scheduled for 5:35 p.m. (PDT). On Friday, Cal-Expo offers Happy Hour between 6:00-8:00 p.m., where $1 beer, $2 wine and 25-cent buffalo wings are offered.

Cal-Expo offers guaranteed $10,000 pools on all Pick-4’s!