Sacramento, CA — The $12,500 Gary Budahn Trot, headed by Pridecrest, and the $12,500 DHA Pace, featuring Handsome Harvey, share the spotlight Sunday evening (March 17) at Cal Expo.

Watch and Wager LLC will present 12 races with first post set for 5:30 p.m. (PDT).

Pridecrest, who has recorded four straight wins, is a 12-year-old son of Angus Hall who is owned by Chris Schick, takes his lessons from Kathie Plested, and is guided by Mooney Svendsen. He has with 61 victories from his 240 career trips to the post, $531,000 in his bank account, and a 1:53.2 mark that was set at Cal Expo.

“He loves this track and he’s just so versatile,” his pilot praised. “I wait until just before the gates open to decide what to do with him about 90 percent of the time, and he always give me a lot of confidence.”

Pridecrest began his recent streak in the Jan. 26 Joe Lighthill, scoring in first-over fashion that evening by a neck in a 14-1 upset. He has put his class and versatility on display in the subsequent three scores, the most recent coming two weeks ago when he got the job done in tracking style from the outside post.

“My favorite trotter used to be Claudius Augustus, but now it’s this guy,” Svendsen noted, referring to the former Cal Expo top-class performer who raced for Gary and Debbi Budahn, and now brings things full circle for Svendsen.

“I grew up in Minnesota with Gary, and our dads both raced,” Svendsen related. “Winning a race named for him is always special.”

Set to take him on are Silverhill Volo (Chip Lackey), Louis (Jake Cutting), Body Armor (Gerry Longo), Peter’s Royalty (James Kennedy) and Jack Rabbit Slims (Luke Plano).

Plano appears to have a strong shot to capture the co-featured DHA Pace with Handsome Harvey, who carries the banner of his driver-trainer and Dave Haness.