by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal Expo Harness

Sacramento, CA — Jazzmanian Devil is paying the price for his recent success, as he has been assigned the No. 10 post position for Sunday night’s (May 1) Open Pace at Cal Expo.

William Condon’s 5-year-old has reached the charmed enclosure following four of his last five appearances here, with the one setback being the time he was asked to leave from this handicapped post on April 3.

It should be noted, however, that it wasn’t the outside slot that likely did him in that evening, but an equipment break. He has returned from that outing to rattle off a pair of impressive victories for trainer Steve Wiseman and regular driver Mooney Svendsen.

Meanwhile, Kissed The Boys is one member of the cast in Sunday’s co-featured Sire Stakes who won’t mind if the skies open up and rain comes down before this contest.

The Desomer Stables homebred has won both her starts on off tracks, including the March 13 Sire Stakes which found divisional leader My Little Susie having to settle for the exacta completion.

Kissed The Boys has had her main problems when the gate rolls, making miscues and being interfered with in two of her last three trips to the post. She made a huge brush to the lead in last week’s stakes gathering, but could not match the favorite when push came to shove in the stretch.

“Once she gets away from there, she’s pretty reliable,” Steve noted. “She has a lot of tenacity, especially on an off track.”

Kissed The Boys is a daughter of Claudius Augustus-Charlotte’s Web and will have Steve Desomer giving directions.

My Little Susie, who has earned five stakes trophies at the meet, shares top billing in Sunday’s $10,000 California Sire Stakes for 3-year-old trotters.

My Little Susie is a daughter of Claudius Augustus out of Sue’s Photo who campaigns for A Piece Of The Action LLC, is conditioned by Gene Vallandingham and will once again have the services of Chip Lackey.

Overall, she has posed for pictures following nine of her 19 lifetime appearances and she established her mark of 1:57.2 when winning a Sire Stakes here on Feb. 28, one of five such added-money contests she has captured at this stand.

In last week’s foray, she proved a punctual 3-5 favorite as she did the track-and-attack to perfection for Lackey, heading Kissed The Boys at midstretch and going on to a 1-3/4 length decision while stopping the timer in 1:58.

Rounding out the field are Lodi Bank Robber with Luke Plano; Sixstringsandapick, Mooney Svendsen; CW Raisinette, Steve Wiseman; and Delta Breezeoflodi, Pierre Girard.

Ten races are on tap Sunday with first post set for 6:25 p.m. and the Sire Stakes will be the third event on the evening. This is the penultimate week of the meeting, with the curtain coming down next Sunday (May 8).