by Scott Ehrlich, publicity director, Sacramento Harness Association

Sacramento, CA — His pilot not only changed tactics, but also showed no mercy to the field by blazing through the middle-half, which ended up seeing Keystone Eli give his field the slip.

A purse of $9,000 was offered at Cal-Expo in Saturday night’s (June 16) featured Open Handicap l pace, in which Keystone Eli dominated his opponents.

In advance of starting from post position three, driver Luke Plano didn’t have to think hard about how good his chances were.

“The horse had just come off of a win in which he equaled his lifetime best, as well as pacing the fastest mile of the year here thus far — so I thought my chances were good,” said Plano. “I wasn’t sure how the race was going to pan out strategy wise, but I figured if nobody was leaving that I’d try him on the front, because if no one was leaving, then I wouldn’t have to use him that hard.”

Leaving nicely and getting an easy lead as the field had just entered the first turn, Keystone Eli would reach the quarter-mile pole in a soft :29.

“Off the :29 first quarter, I felt my chances had now increased to being very good because I figured my horse could pace a very fast final three-quarters of a mile — which would make him very hard to catch.”

With Plano thinking that his charge could pace a very fast final three-quarters of a mile, it was time to implement that plan — which Plano did to the 5-16th-mile pole when he let out a notch on his pacer. As a result, Keystone Eli opened up a 3-3/4 length lead while pacing a :27.1 wind-aided second quarter on his way to the half-mile marker, reached in :56.1.

“I thought my chances at the half were very strong because he still felt very strong, plus he paced the second quarter fairly easily — as fast as it was.”

Continuing to roll on the final turn, Plano would urge his horse once just past the 11-16th-mile pole.

“I was just asking him to go on a little more because I think the horse has very little experience on the front, and I just wanted to let him know to keep going.”

Maintaining an open length lead in a :54.4 middle-half, while reaching the three-quarter pole, timed in 1:23.4, everything that Plano had thought and felt was working out just as planned.

“I didn’t have a whole lot of concerns as I felt at that point he’d win. The :54.4 middle-half was sort of what I was looking for as I figured the faster I went in the middle-half — that it would keep those guys chasing — which would make them work harder, and/or tire them out. I kicked out his earplugs very late in the final turn and he responded well and went right on.”

Under pretty strong urging from the top of the stretch on, Plano simply was keeping Keystone Eli to his task.

“He was fairly strong all the way to the wire, but I kept after him throughout the stretch drive only because of his lack of experience on the front. With him, he gets over the ground so easily, that’s it’s hard to tell how fast he’s going at times, especially tonight going into that headwind in the stretch. Bottom line is I just wanted to play it safe.”

Owned by Hei Mitchell and trained by Bob Johnson, Keystone Eli would score by a commanding 3-3/4 lengths, in 1:52.1. Ohoka Razed N (Lou Pena) raced game to hold second, and The Pand Illusion (Rick Plano) could do no better than third, another 1-1/2 lengths back.

“He was very good. He’s a pretty nice colt who seems to be getting better with age,” concluded the young Plano.

Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Wednesday, June 20, continuing through Saturday. Post time on Wednesday and Thursday is at 5:35 p.m. (PDT). Post time on Fridays and Saturdays is at 6:15 p.m.

On Wednesday, fans can wager into the $25,000 guaranteed Bal-Cal Pick 4 Challenge, which will have a mandatory payoff. Also on Wednesday, 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!