by Scott Ehrlich, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — Some issues came up in the final quarter, but that wouldn’t prevent Boo Coo Blush from earning a nice victory.

Conditioned trotters, racing for a $4,000 purse, were featured at Cal-Expo on Thursday night (June 12), in which Boo Coo Blush showed courage.

Coming away in last from post five in the field of eight for driver Lemoyne Svendsen, the pair would find themselves down 11-1/2 lengths at the quarter-mile pole, timed in :29.2.

Having to go around a breaker to the three-eighths-mile pole, then left without cover to the 7-16ths-mile marker, Boo Coo Blush would start to move up nicely with less than 9-16ths of a mile to go into a half-mile timed in 1:01.

“I was just going to ease her up there and get her in striking position, but then when I got cover from Tequila Top (Jim Lackey) past the half, I liked my chances because I had followed Tequila Top in the past and had won with Boo Coo Blush before.”

Up to fifth by five at the half-mile pole, and now getting advancing cover as the field headed toward the final turn, that cover would stall midway through the final turn, thus forcing Boo Coo Blush to move three-wide to the three-quarter-mile station, timed in 1:31.

“She flipped three-wide real well and I liked that, but when I went to get around Tequila Top, my mare slipped and I almost lost her as we straightened out. I, however, grabbed her up and she got back to trotting smoothly and showed me heart and dug in.”

Brushing into the lead with less than 3-16ths of a mile to go, Svendsen would urge his charge at the seven-eighths-mile marker, but that turned out to be a bad idea, especially with British Spirit (Rocky Stidham) coming on.

“I hit her once to see if she’d go on and she didn’t, and that was a little concerning. So I just pushed her tail down the rest of the way with the exception of one tap at the wire. She showed a little fortitude and held British Spirit off.”

Owned by David Neumeister in partnership with trainer Bob Johnson, Boo Coo Blush would win ($6.20) by a neck in 2:00.4. British Spirit tried hard in the lane while having to settle for second, and Scarlet O’Hio (James Kennedy) was just up for third, another three lengths farther back.

“It was a very good mile because she put her head down and fought her way to a win,” finished Svendsen.

On the Thursday night card, driver James Kennedy had four driving wins while trainer Tom Wine ll conditioned three winners, thus giving him ten training wins over the last four cards. Additionally, driver Ed Hensley had a driving triple, thus giving him 3,988 career driving scores.

Carryovers at Cal-Expo on Friday

With the Pick-6 on Thursday night going unsolved, as well as the late Pick-4, fans wagering on Friday night (June 13) at Cal-Expo will have two opportunities at some nice cash.

Since fans on Thursday night were unable to select four of four in the late Pick-4, a carryover of $5,543.76 will be added into the early Pick-4 (races two-five) on Friday night.

Additionally, since fans only selected five of six in the Thursday night Pick-6, a carryover of $7,152.63 will be added into Friday night’s Pick-6 (races four-nine) pool.

Total estimated pools for each will be $15,000.

Post time for the start of the early Pick-4 is scheduled for 6:54 p.m. (PDT). Post time for the start of the Pick-6 is scheduled for 7:50 p.m.

Live racing will resume at Cal-Expo on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and on Saturday (June 14) at 6:20 p.m. On Friday, Cal-Expo offers Happy Hour between 6:00-8:00 p.m., where $1 beer, $2 wine and $3 orders of buffalo wings are offered.

The Pick-Six at Cal-Expo is now a $1 wager.