by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — The 3-year-old pacer Mighty Fine Hi Ho, who races for owner/breeder Eileen Brodbar and trainer Jim Wilkinson, Jr., is making the kind of progress you like to see in a horse starting out his career.

Mighty Fine Hi Ho was a distant third in his debut, had a closing show finish in his next attempt, was a solid runner-up in his third try and then hit paydirt at most recent asking as he went coast-to-coast in that last outing for a length victory with Rich Wojcio in the sulky.

The Brodbar homebred is by Hi Ho Silverheel’s, who has certainly had his share of nice offspring, out of the New Zealand mare Fine Touch N, who was a 1:54 performer back in her racing days.

Mighty Fine Hi Ho was no factor in a couple of qualifiers back at the start of the year, then left the track and didn’t return until September.

“A lot of other owners would have given up on him at that point,” Wilkinson related. “The Brodbars persevered, though, and now they’ve been rewarded. It’s nice to see when they put this much time and effort into a horse and get some nice races from them. Especially when it’s one that might have not even have had the chance to start with different owners.”

Wilkinson could sense the difference immediately when the pacer returned here a couple of months ago.

“When I saw him again, they had done a lot of work at the farm and I could see the first time I trained him that he was a different horse than the one back in February. He’s a nice little colt who tries hard, and you can’t ask for more than that from any horse.”