by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — Last Thursday night (Jan. 21) was a good one at Cax-Expo for Alan Kirschenbaum, as homebreds Sintillating won the Filly and Mare Open for trainer Tim Maier, while Television Star made it two in a row with his mentor Rick Plano in the bike.

Kirschenbaum owns and bred Sintillating in partnership with Denise Maier, while he shares the same titles with Sheldon Perry when it comes to Television Star. Sintillating recently went over the $200,000 earnings plateau and has now accounted for two of the last four top dances for the pacing mares.

“Sintillating has been a pleasure from the first time I saw her as a baby out in the field,” said Kirschenbaum when asked about the daughter of Little Steven. “She’s a big, strong mare, and was always leader of the pack in the field, which hasn’t translated to her racing style, where she’s happy dawdling along in the back.

“Sometimes her laziness can be a little frustrating, as it can be problematic getting her into a good position early in the race. She also doesn’t pace the last turn too well, which is challenging for a closer. But no matter what, she’s always digging in the last few strides, and if it goes her way, she gets the job done.”

Television Star is another Little Steven offspring who has rattled off back-to-back scores after a series of minor prizes.

“We’re still waiting for Television Star to put it all together. Rick has often said he thinks this horse has the potential to be better than his older brother, Star Time Kid, who has made over $100,000, but it hasn’t happened yet.

“The Little Stevens sometimes get better as they get older, though. Owners tend to be cockeyed optimists, so we’re still hoping he’ll step it up a little bit.”

By the way, both Kirschenbaum and Sheldon Perry have spent their careers in the television business, hence the name for this pacer.

Rios enjoying having his own barn

Marco Rios didn’t know much about harness racing when his cousin brought him to Cal-Expo for the first time in 1993, but it was an instant attraction. Fast forward 17 years and he’s got his own barn of eight and hoping to build from there.

“I’d been around horses all my life, but I hadn’t seen the trotters and pacers,” related the 34-year-old native of Mexico. “I knew this was for me and I wanted to be part of it.”

Rios did his first apprenticeship under owner/driver/trainer Dr. Harvey Stein for some seven years, then most recently worked under top conditioner Bobby Johnson before setting out on his own last September.

“I learned a lot from Dr. Stein and from Bob Johnson, they were great teachers,” Rios said. “I also got quite a bit from the late Dr. Gary Budahn. He taught me so much about finding the horse’s problems and then treating them. That’s a very important part of being a trainer.”

Rios had a goal of striking out on his own for the past several years, and when he finally had the backing of some owners, he jumped at the chance to hang out his own shingle.

“I have eight horses right now for four different owners, and I am very thankful to them for giving me this chance.

“There is a lot of responsibility to taking care of your own barn, and it’s not like when you work for somebody else. The business end of it and dealing with owners is something new, but I like the challenge.”

He’s become a trotting fixture

It seems like Southern John has been around forever, with the fact that the trotter is now 11 and races week-in and week-out likely helping in that perception.

The veteran goes about his business for Rick Cisco and his son, Scott, with Rick doing the conditioning. When he got the job done last week, it was his 31st trip to the winner’s circle and his bank account is close to the $275,000 plateau. He is scheduled to make career start No. 260 on Thursday night (Jan. 28).

“Scott had him for about a year, then he got claimed away for a few months, then we took him back three years ago, because we missed him,” Rick related. “All our horses are like pets, and he’s the old man.”

Cisco was asked about the training schedule for Southern John, who made 45 starts last season.

“He doesn’t miss a dance,” his mentor noted. “His training schedule? I guess you would call it ‘Leave me alone,’ which is how he likes it.

“He knows when it’s race time, though. If you watch him during the warm-up, he’s all calm and relaxed, but when the gate starts rolling, he’s right on it and raring to go.”

Southern John does the majority of his work on the front end, including last week’s tally with Luke Plano where he had a clear advantage to deep stretch and then held by a head while rewarding his backers with $12.

“Every once in a while the driver will take him back, because it’s tough to race every week on the lead, especially at his age,” Rick said. “This horse definitely has his issues and isn’t the soundest, in fact you can hear things popping all the time, but he loves to go out there and race and the barn isn’t the same without him.”

Cisco also points out that Southern John has shared in a couple of driver milestones along the way.

“Jim Lackey drove him when he got his 2,000th win, and he gave Jim Marino 1,000,” he related.

Could this popular trotter give another pilot a significant victory? Stay tuned.