by Scott Ehrlich, publicity director, Sacramento Harness Association

Sacramento, CA — His connections could have been more optimistic entering the first stake of the year, plus it looked like he was out of contention at the three-quarter pole, but when Endofanera put his mind to it in the stretch, he got the first big ball of cheese.

A pretty evenly matched group of ten sophomore pacing geldings slugged it out at Cal-Expo in a $22,500 California Sires Stakes on Saturday night (April 7), in which Endofanera came from way back.

In advance of starting from post position five, trainer and driver Lou Pena was looking for a positive sign to increase his opinion of his charge.

“He warmed up well and that helped boost my confidence,” said Pena. “But I did go into the race thinking my chances weren’t that great because I thought he went a bad mile the week before. My strategy was to save ground and hope to shake loose and see what happened.”

Choosing to leave, but joined by four others while racing three-wide, Pena knew he had to abort any further plans of moving forward.

“When I saw the other four leave, my thoughts were to get take back and look for a mercy hole where I could squeeze in.”

Not able to tuck in until after the field had traveled 3-16ths of a mile, Pena wasn’t concerned with having used his horse.

“The tuck wasn’t tough at all — that was easy for him.”

Racing seven lengths back while in fifth position at the quarter-mile pole, timed in :28.1, Pena knew what was best for his horse.

“My thoughts were the same at the quarter-pole as they were before the race –to stay inside. At around the 5-16ths pole though, he actually pulled himself to the outside and was double-up loaded with pace, which made me feel good. But, when I saw Axelrod (Jim Lackey) storming up on the outside to the three-eighths pole, I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to pull and get in the way.'”

Shuffled to eighth as the outer-flow had developed and passed him at the half-mile pole, timed in :58.1, Pena knew he had but no choice to stick to his game plan.

“Again, my thoughts were to stay inside and hope to get lucky.”

With the field 7-16ths of a mile from the wire, Endofanera would gap two lengths, which now had Pena concerned.

“He was actually getting a little bit scrambly, so I kept him confident by not asking him to go and leaving him alone. He, however, still gapped more midway through the final turn, which I think was a combination of him still being scrambly, combined with the fact that we were going a fast third quarter.”

Still racing eight lengths back with the field now at the three-quarter pole, timed in 1:26.2, and now in the second-flight of horses, it ‘appeared’ Endofanera had no chance.

“At that point, I was just hoping to get a check.”

Asked via one urge with just less than 3-16ths of a mile to go, Endofanera let his pilot know that it was finally time to get down to business.

“Once I tapped him — that’s when he swelled up and I knew then he had a lot of pace. As a result, it was now time to look for room and get through.”

Now in gear and quickly closing to within four lengths to the seven-eighths pole as the field started to come back to him, Pena would angle his pupil two-wide with an eighth of a mile to go, then would knife back to the inside with a little more than a sixteenth of a mile to go, all while a herd of his opponents were also closing quickly.

“I had to wait for Fast Tempo to die off, then once I was free, I went back to the inside and knew it was going to be a sweet victory because I had enough horse to get by them. He put his head down and got busy and was strong right to the finish.”

Closing fastest of all under air-whipping, Endofanera would take the lead just to the wire while recording a half length triumph. Little Box Out (Luke Plano), sent off of odds of 50-1, finished in second, and Axelrod would finish another half length farther back in third. Owned by John Darrah, Larry Keethe and Nick Ruscigno in partnership with Pena, Endofanera ($15.00) stopped the timer at 1:56.3.

“This was like a monkey coming out of the trees from nowhere and grabbing the banana. He raced great, while at the same time shocking me with the big improvement,” Pena finished.

A purse of $7,900 was on the line in an Invitational Handicap for the ladies, in which Lil Kim was a romping winner.

Cutting out fractions of :28.1, :58.2, and 1:27.4, there was no beating the 4-year-old off the great middle-half rating by driver Tim Maier, as Lil Kim rolled to a whopping 8-1/4 length win. Summer Franco N (Rick Plano) finished in second, and Little Bit Country (Steve Hyman) finished 1-3/4 lengths farther back in third.

Owned by trainer Denise Maier, Lil Kim ($3.20) paced the mile in 1:55.3, pacing a :27.4 final quarter against a strong headwind. The victory for Denise was the second of four owning and training wins, and for her husband, Tim, the second of four driving victories.

In a $6,900 Cal Bred Open Pace, Du Wah Diddy ($40.40) refused to be passed.

Setting fractions of :28.2, :58, and 1:25.1, the Mike Brown owned, and Rocky Stidham trained and driven pacer, would win by a half length in 1:54, a seasonal best. Pulse (Ed Hensley) tracked the winner in the pocket and was second, and Little Stevie (Bruce Clarke) was just a head farther back in third.

Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Wednesday, April 11, continuing through Saturday. Post time each night is at 5:35 p.m. (PDT). On Wednesday, fans can wager into the $25,000 guaranteed Bal-Cal Pick 4 challenge. Additionally, on Wednesdays, admission is free, plus Cal-Expo offers a complete Lasagna dinner, with salad and bread, for just $2.00.

Cal-Expo now offers guaranteed $10,000 pools on all Pick-4’s!