by Mark Ratzky, publicity department, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — Final Choice, who has captured three in a row for Gilbert Herrera and went over the $200,000 earnings plateau with his most recent tally, and Jess Or No, who rattled off back-to-back wins before checking in second to that rival last week, head the cast for Thursday night’s (March 27) $6,300 feature at Cal-Expo.

The race is designed for trotters carrying base claiming prices of $20,000 down to $15,000 and a field of eight will face the starter. The contest goes as the seventh on an 11-race program.

Final Choice won 13 of his 43 appearances last season, but started off his 2008 campaign with 11 straight losses before getting back on the right track on March 6. In the interim, the Herrera owned, trained and driven performer has posted a hat trick and appears to be back at the top of his game.

The 7-year-old son of Jonathan Lobell handled slightly softer conditioned foes for his first two decisions, on both occasions making every pole a winning one. Moving up to this league for last week’s assignment, Final Choice was parked to the lead at the quarter, took complete control of things down the backside and went on to a 3-1/4 length victory in 1:57.

Jess Or No will try to make amends after completing the exacta that evening as the 6-5 favorite. Ed Hensley drives and trains the British Sterling offspring for wife Jessica and the dark-hued trotter has a 1:56.1 career standard with $139,000 in his account.

Jess Or No reached the winner’s circle following three of his four tries between February 22 and March 13, with the first of those scores coming over a sloppy track by a neck. He made a break to lose all chance at next asking, then was back on his best behavior for his March 6 and 13 outings as he did the stalk-and-pounce in both miles to win going away.

In last week’s try, the Hensley performer sat third in the early stages, was out first-over to make his bid into the final bend, but was unable to make a dent in Final Choice’s lead and had to be happy with the second-place check while finishing another three lengths ahead of the rest of the field.

Howwilddoyawantme helps make things interesting. The Rick Plano trainee has a pair of victories to her credit this season, the most recent coming on February 28 when she made a strong move to the lead turning for home and kept things going to the line. Since that decision, she has had to settle for minor prizes, including a show finish behind Final Choice and Jess Or No last week.

No tearing up tickets this time

Despite the tongue-in-cheek name, trainer Jim Wilkinson, Jr. admits he had high hopes for Voucher Destroyer when he came to the races a couple of years ago.

After all, the son of Power Of Art and the New Zealand mare Glad Dor is a full brother to the multiple stakes winner and 1:52.3 performer I Am So Glad. Things haven’t quite worked out with this pacer, but it looks like the tide might be turning after last week’s 1:54.4 front-end victory with Rich Wojcio that marked only his 11th lifetime trip to the post.

“He’s certainly had his share of problems and it’s taken a lot of patience to get him to this point,” Wilkinson explained. “We tried to get him to the races at 2, but that didn’t work out, and then last fall I thought he had a good chance to win some stakes races, but he got hurt and we had to stop on him for six months.

“He’s got a lot of ability, there’s no question about that, but how can I say this — he isn’t very smart. He needs a lot more education, because up to this point, if you try to take him back and put him in a confined space, he has a habit of breaking.

“Rich just let him roll the other night, and that’s what he seems to like. He showed what he can do, and now it’s just a matter of his learning what it’s all about. I have a feeling he’s going to win a few races.”

Wilkinson is excited about another offspring of the Power Of Art/Glad Dor mating in the form of the 2-year-old Glad To Have Him.

“He’s almost identical looking to Voucher Destroyer, but as far as their minds go, they’re worlds apart. He should get to the races around June or July and we’ll be gearing him up for the stakes races. I like him quite a bit,” Wilkinson finished.

Live racing will resume at Cal-Expo on Thursday (March 27) at 6:10 p.m. (PDT), and will continue through Saturday (March 29). Post time on Friday is at 5:50 p.m. Post time on Saturday night 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!