Deep Red, Machine Maker square off at Cal-Expo

by Mark Ratzky, Cal-Expo publicity department

Sacramento, CA — Deep Red, who loves to have his picture taken and gets some class relief, and Machine Maker, fresh from a 17-1 surprise last week, figure to get plenty of attention in Thursday night’s (May 1) Cal-Expo headliner.

The $6,300 event is designed for pacers carrying base claiming tags of $20,000 down to $15,000, with a field of seven facing starter Bill Vallandingham. Deep Red should have his share of backers, as he gets an easier spot in his second outing since missing a month and a half of action.

Rocky Stidham owns, drives and trains the 5-year-old son of Little Steven, who won 13 times last season and has landed in the circle following four of his 11 tries this year. His most recent tally came on February 8 at this same level and he’s coming off a needed fourth-place finish behind the classy Wilder Echo.

Machine Maker carries the banner of Mark Knudson and KC Carvalho, with Tom Wine II calling the shots, and James Kennedy in his usual spot in the sulky. He rallied smartly last week to record the $36 upset while picking up his second victory on the season. If he gets another good set-up on the front end, he could click right back at what figures to be a much shorter number this time around.

Love Shark circling the waters

With two solid qualifying miles under his belt, Love Shark is ready to return to the wars for Rick Plano in Friday night’s (May 2) feature. After posting a 1:57 qualifying jaunt earlier this month, Plano’s charge came back with an eight length romp in 1:56.4 last week and looks to be more than geared up for his comeback.

Love Shark hasn’t been seen locally in the evening since late June, then went back East and made starts at The Meadowlands, Pocono Downs and Harrah’s Chester before calling it a year in August. He is just shy of the $200,000 earnings plateau and sports a 1:50.3 mark that was set over this track.

“He came up with a little fracture after his last race back East and we had to give him six months,” Plano explained. “He’s come back fine. Because he’s going to have to jump right back in with the top pacers, I wanted to give him two qualifiers to have him nice and tight.”

Live racing will resume at Cal-Expo on Thursday (May 1) and continue through Saturday (May 3). Post time on Thursday is at 6:10 p.m. (PDT). Post time on Friday is at 6:15 p.m. Post time on Saturday is scheduled for 5:35 p.m. On Thursday, Cal-Expo offers a complete lasagna dinner, which includes salad and bread, for just $3.00.

The Pick-6 at Cal-Expo is now a $1 wager.

Back to Top

Share via