by Scott Ehrlich, Publicity Director, Sacramento Harness Association

A field reduced to just three was featured on Saturday night at Cal-Expo Raceway, in which more strategy than you’d think played a deciding role in the outcome.

Invitational Handicap pacers, racing for a $10,000 purse, didn’t pull any punches despite a three-horse field as a result of two scratches, in which a sharp drive saw Lucky NZ come out on top.

For driver Ed Hensley, this would be his first drive on the down-under import, who entered the race off two weeks. But the word he received from the connections was good.

“Trainer Jamie Sullivan thought he was the one to beat despite being off two weeks because he had trained well, it was first-time lasix for him, plus they had re-rigged a little bit before his last race and he had raced well in that start,” said Hensley. “I didn’t know how the race would pan out and I didn’t know what I was going to do because, in a three-horse race, there actually could be a little more strategy than you’d think.”

Off the starting-gate a length when the wings closed, Hensley was merely working with his horse.

“I just wanted to ease him off the gate because I know he can take a good hold.”

Coming away in second behind Love Shark (Luke Plano), Hensley determined that the first-turn tempo wasn’t to his benefit.

“When Luke backed in to us in the turn, I decided to move to the front as I didn’t want to get stuck in the two-hole.”

Pulling right at the quarter-mile pole, timed in :28.1, the lead for Lucky NZ turned out to be harder than Hensley expected, as an on-the-muscle Love Shark was stubborn before yielding to the 7-16 mile pole, this despite Plano taking a good hold of his horse.

“We went a little bit faster second-quarter than I would have liked to have gone, and I did have to use him a little bit. When we got to the half-mile pole, and I saw the first-half mile time was :55.4, I would have liked to have seen it been a little bit slower. I, however, knew I was going to get an easy third-quarter as I knew they weren’t going to attack me.”

And how did Hensley know this?

“The second we got the lead, my horse came back to me and sat right in my lap and slowed the pace up on his own. He decided he wanted a breather,” laughed Hensley.

Now basically loping along on the lead at the half-mile pole, as well as throughout most of the final-turn, Hensley decided to take a peek back at the 11-16 mile pole.

“As soon as anyone was going to pull, I was going to get him in gear. It wasn’t, however, until we approached the three-quarter mile pole that Coppertone (Rocky Stidham) pulled, which prompted me to kick out the earplugs at the three-quarter mile pole, and my horse responded very well while having a lot of pace left.”

Reaching the three-quarter mile station, timed in 1:25.2, Lucky NZ was now beginning to accelerate, much to the delight of Hensley.

“With the :29.3 third-quarter breather, I thought he’d be hard to pass. Entering the lane, when Coppertone got next to me, my horse paced away from him.”

With Lucky NZ now in full-gear, there was a concern–that being Love Shark, who was locked in the box. Was Hensley aware of this fact?

“I was very aware of it,” Hensley laughed. “I just wanted to make sure that Love Shark wouldn’t get out, so I didn’t try to pace away from Coppertone too much because I knew he would keep Love Shark locked in because he was trying to get second-place money.”

With Love Shark not shaking loose until the last fifty yards of the race, his chances for the win were no longer in reach, as Lucky NZ held firm to win by 1 1/2 lengths, while pacing a final-quarter mile of :27.

“I don’t know what the result would have been if Love Shark had a fair shot at me, but I will tell you that my horse will fight when a horse gets along side of him. He raced very well tonight,” Hensley concluded.

Owned by the Summersby Stable, Lucky NZ stopped the timer at 1:52.2. For Hensley, the victory was the start of a driving triple, his second three-bagger in as many nights. For trainer Jamie Sullivan, she started off a training triple with this triumph, giving her six wins over the weekend. Additionally, the Summersby Stable, who recorded six ownership wins over the two days, would initiate
the start of three victories as well.

Love Shark finished in second and Coppertone was another 2 3/4 lengths farther back, in third.

Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Wednesday, continuing through Saturday. Post-time each night is at 5:35 (PST). On Wednesday, fans can wager into the $25,000 Guaranteed Bal-Cal Pick 4 challenge.

Guaranteed Late Pick-4 pool every Friday and Saturday
Sacramento Harness Association at Cal-Expo continues to offer a $20,000 (guar.) Late Pick-4 pool every Friday and Saturday, on races nine through twelve.