by Scott Ehrlich, publicity director, Sacramento Harness Association

It was certainly a family affair for the Planos on Friday night (September 7) at Cal-Expo as they not only combined to win the featured event, but two of those three Planos also combined to win nine of the fourteen races.

California Sires Stakes action with a purse of $22,500 for 2-year-old filly pacers was the main attraction on the start of a short two night racing week, in which My Fanny made it three for three in her young career.

In advance of starting from post-position three in the field of ten, driver Luke Plano knew his young lass stood tall.

“The filly raced well last week and I thought my chances were very good,” said Plano. “I planned to get around the inside horses that didn’t show a lot of speed and then play it by ear from after that.”

Leaving and getting the early lead to the first-turn before yielding after an eighth of a mile, My Fanny would find herself in the three-hole and 2-1/2 lengths back at the quarter-mile pole, timed in :28.1.

“I thought everything was going okay for me at that point, plus I didn’t want to race Wooski (Rich Wojcio) and Cat Burgler (Etienne Desomer) — who were now in front of me.”

Under a big hold in the second-quarter while an out from the start Round Here (Kevin Anderson) was parked next to her at the half-mile marker, timed in :57.4, was Plano concerned?

“Not at the moment. I was just going to wait and see what happened.”

With the field now a little less than 7-16ths of a mile from the wire, Plano put himself in a spot to give his filly her best chance.

“I was half out behind Round Here as I wanted to keep all my options open in case Round Here went on. As it turns out though, Round Here started to tire, so I opted to go back to the inside past the five-eighths.”

Now free and three lengths back while advancing along the inside to the three-quarter mile station, timed in 1:27.4, Plano liked the feeling his charge was giving him.

“Wooski, who was on the lead, was starting to pick up the pace, but my filly still felt strong, so I started to ask her a little bit and she responded well.”

Now racing first-over to the top of the stretch while having momentum, My Fanny would charge strongly as the field entered the stretch.

“She paced right up to Cat Burgler who was in front of me, then when we straightened up for home, I pulled the earplugs and she took right off.”

Taking the lead at the seven-eighths mile pole, it was now all over but the shouting.

“She was strong all the way through the wire and was good as she could be.”

Drawing off from mid-stretch on, the freshman filly would open up under moderate urging to win ($3.00) by 5-1/2 lengths. Bred, named, and owned my Plano’s mother Mary Ann, and trained by his father Rick, My Fanny would equal a lifetime mark in stopping the timer at 1:57.3. Wooski finished in second, and Cat Burgler finished another half of one length farther back, in third.

“I think she’s a real nice filly and she seems like she has a bright future,” Plano finished.

The owning victory for Mary Ann Plano was the first of three triumphs. The driving victory for Luke Plano was the second of four winners. For Rick Plano, the training victory was the third of six training wins that went along with five driving scores.