by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal Expo Harness

Sacramento, CA — When this most recent weekend of two nights of racing was completed at Cal Expo, horses owned all or in part by Scott Ehrlich had wrapped up their second triple in less than a month.

Back on Dec. 12 and 13, the Steve Wiseman trained charges from the Ehrlich stable that were victorious were Northern Stormont (Scott owns a third), Surprisingly Sweet (owned by Scott and wife Lisa), and Put To The Test.

This past weekend, add Ideal Smile (Scott and Lisa) to the list, and take out the unlucky Put To The Test, who arguably most likely would have won had he not been blocked until late, then flew to be second.

Shining most recently from their small stable is the smallest of them all, Surprisingly Sweet, or “Sweet,” as she is affectionately known. The 8-year-old mare comes off a romping first-over, five length victory in 1:52.4 versus all boys in the Open lll this past Saturday. How Scott acquired her, and what he has done to keep her, have made for a nice love story that extends not only to humans, but to other equines.

“In the fall of 2013, my family and I made our annual trip to New England,” noted Scott. “Mike Eaton and his wife, Belinda, who I met through a mutual friend when they visited Cal Expo in 2011, invited us to his farm to jog some horses. I got to jog Ideal Smile, and expressed to Mike my fondness for him, which I acquired when I saw him race at Cal Expo for Mike in 2012.

“Fast forward about a month later when the mutual friend calls me and tells me Mike likes a horse (Surprisingly Sweet) he has in at Plainridge Racecourse, but only if he can get some pace in the race because she drew post eight. I download the program and determine there’s no pace in the race, so I didn’t bet. Of course she wins, while three-wide most of the last half, circling the field at 11-1.

“Fast forward another month when Mike calls me. The other owner (Bob McHugh) of Smile didn’t want to pay the cost of wintering him during the five month off time, so Mike wanted to know if I was interested, which I was. He also mentioned he had this mare named Surprisingly Sweet, also co-owned by McHugh, that he didn’t want to winter.

“I had completely forgotten about her, and told Mike I’d review her races on video, and call him the next day. When I saw the race where she circled the field, the light bulb went off on who she was and how great she closed. Combine that race with very similar closes in races before that, along with the fact that I love closers, plus she’d now be on the mile track at Cal Expo, and it was a no-brainer to include her, thus we agreed to ‘throw her’ in to the deal.”

The move by the Ehrlichs has certainly paid off as their little girl has raced 65 of her next 70 starts for them, recording 17 wins, 16 seconds, and five thirds, with earnings in excess of $50,000. This past summer, however, something happened that they didn’t expect.

“She got claimed,” Scott related. “She’s an Indiana bred, and I sent her to Hoosier Park with Rick Plano, who did well with her, and also, given the racing style at Hoosier, changed her (and Put To The Test) from being a one-move closer into a two-move closer. When they announced she was being claimed, my heart sank. Not so much because of my feelings for her, but because Kathie Wiseman and Sweet have a love affair with each other.

“Perry Smith claimed her and put her right back in for the same $5,000 tag. There was another claim on her that night, but we won the shake. In her next race, which was the same class, I put her in for $6,000 instead of $5,000.

“Sure enough, she got claimed again. I figured for sure I’d never have her again. As luck would have it, she was now being trained by Walter Haynes Jr. Junior and I have good history with each other, as he drove and won with horses I had at Balmoral, The Red Mile, and Thunder Ridge.

“I called him and told him how much she meant to my family, and my trainer’s wife, Kathie, and that I’d be very interested to buy her back after a series at Hoosier. He suggested I call one of the owners, Brian Carsey. I did, and explained to Brian how much she meant to us. Brian immediately said we could buy her back after the series was over. I can’t tell you how grateful I was that Brian was so accommodating. He showed a lot of class, especially about how much she meant to my family, and that means a ton to me.”

As mentioned earlier, Sweet has two love affairs going.

“Kathie Wiseman and Sweet are crazy about each other,” Ehrlich noted. “There’s no doubt about two things. One, that Steve Wiseman knows exactly what Sweet needs, training wise. And two, care and love wise, there’s no doubt that Kathie makes Sweet a very happy girl.”

But there’s also another cog to this wheel, his name is Jimmy Shin, a 12-year-old trotter also trained by Wiseman.

“Steve calls me one day in early April of 2014 and asks me to call Mike Eaton to ask how Sweet and Jimmy got along. Steve had just claimed Jimmy, who at one time was also trained by Eaton.

“I asked why. He informed me that when he turned out Jimmy in their paddock ring, that he’d just stand right in front of her stall, as they stared at each other, while Sweet went crazy, squealing and nickering. Then when he put her in the ring, she’d stare at him and Jimmy would go just as crazy from his stall.

“I called Eaton and barely got out the words ‘when you had Sweet and Jimmy,’ and he interrupts and says, ‘they were totally crazy about each other, inseparable.’ Now think about this! They’re 3,000 miles away from where they met, plus they haven’t seen one another for roughly six months. Yet they instantly knew each other!”

It should come as no surprise when they shipped to and from Running Aces, that Kathie Wiseman, to keep them busy, had them next to each other on the transporting, not to mention side by side in their stalls at the two tracks.

“Words can’t express how grateful we are of the fantastic job Steve, Kathie and their daughter Tyler, and their crew do with the horses they take care of. We’re very lucky,” finished Scott.

This has turned out to be a sweet story all the way around.

Party Hangover Two, Secret Alibi do battle

Party Hangover Two, who finished up 2015 with nine wins from her 15 trips to the post, and Secret Alibi, who has the conditioning edge over her main rival, get the marquee treatment in Saturday night’s featured $5,000 Open II Pace for fillies and mares.

The main event will go as the fifth on the 13-race Watch and Wager LLC card with a first post of 6:10 p.m. The trotting and pacing action will continue with a Sunday evening program.