by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — It’s not often you’ll see a pair of 12-year-olds combining for the exacta around these parts, but that’s exactly what happened when On Eagles Wings N at 17-1 and Amcam at even-money crossed the line one-two in last Saturday’s (Sept. 25) nightcap at Cal-Expo.

On Eagles Wings N is a New Zealand import who has been a mainstay at the Chris Hernandez barn for many seasons. He was clicking for the second time in his last four appearances and has now run his bank account over the $126,000 mark with a 1:54 career standard.

“We had the No. 7 post and my plan was to tuck him, but he wanted no part of that when the gate started rolling,” Hernandez related. “If you fight him too much at the start, he’ll just fight you back and use himself up.”

After leaving into the four hole, On Eagles Wings N was out and moving again at the half and was able to position himself perfectly behind Amcam as that one was working his way to the lead.

“Once the flow started coming at the half, I knew I had to go or be locked in and we were able to flush out the favorite,” Hernandez explained. “He carried us to the stretch and then Wings kicked into gear and wanted to go.

“He’s kind of a funny horse, because around the barn he is very quiet and easy to work with, but once it’s race time, he can be quite a handful for a 12-year-old. You let him do what he wants, though, and he’s happy.”

On this particular night, what On Eagles Wings N wanted was to pace and the Down Under veteran added another picture to his large scrapbook.

Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Thursday (Sept. 30) and continues through Saturday (Oct. 2). Post time on Thursday is at 6:25 p.m. (PDT). Post time on Friday (Oct. 1) is at 6 p.m. Post time on Saturday is 6:10 p.m.