by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — It’s safe to say that the homebred trotter KD Nicol has been an overachiever at this Cal-Expo meet, much to the delight of his owner/driver/trainer Keith Willey.

KD Nicol, a 4-year-old son of Karen’s Rowdy One who was named in honor of the late Nicol Tremblay, has outraced his odds in his three appearances. He chased home the might Calzone on opening weekend, was third at 11-1 in his next try after doing all the dirty work up front, then just missed second by a neck last week while being dismissed at 61-1 that evening.

“I’ve been very happy with his races since we’ve come back to the track,” said Willey, who will be celebrating his 76th birthday next week. “He had a real nice rest at the farm for about a month after the last meet ended, spending every day in the field doing whatever he wanted, and then we started getting him ready again.”

Part of that return to the wars included a number of training miles with barnmate KD Amazing Spirit. While Wiley would normally sit behind the latter, it was 76-year-old Tom Parris who was handling the lines for KD Nicol.

“Just a couple of young kids,” Willey joked.

As mentioned earlier, KD Nicol had his work cut out in his first start taking on Calzone under Open conditions, but has found his friends of late while picking up the show money at those long odds in conditioned events.

“He’s pleasantly surprised me the last couple of weeks,” Willey noted. “In his last one, he just couldn’t quite hold off Twice The Ruckus for the place. There was a tremendous headwind that night and he gave everything he had down the stretch.”

This time around, both victorious Meringue and Twice The Ruckus will be going in the Open, but the presence of the classy come-backer Easter Call and the always dangerous Alpine Hawk mean healthy odds are once again in KD Nicol’s future.

“We’ll be right there to take advantage if anybody makes a mistake,” Willey said.

Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Thursday (September 2) and continues through Saturday (September 4). Post time on Thursday is at 6:15 p.m. (PDT). There is a carryover in the Pick 5 of $1,161. The Pick 5 is a minimum 50-cent wager that is decided each night on the fifth through ninth races.