by Orlando Gutirrez, for Cal-Expo Raceway

Sacramento, CA — Rhiana Seelster, at the top of her game right now with victories in four of the last five clashes at the top of the distaff pacing division, looks to up that impressive batting average in Friday night’s (August 26) $10,000 Filly and Mare Invitational at Cal-Expo Raceway.

Among those set to face Steve Wiseman’s razor-sharp performer are Biggest Big Bertha, who upset her two back and then was a very game second last week, and Gilbert Herrera’s hard-knocking pair of Down Under imports Vert Et Blanc and Kievline. The feature goes as the third on a 12 race program.

Rhiana Seelster is a five-year-old daughter of Camluck, who is owned by Ronnie Wakefield and is reined and trained by Wiseman. She appears to be going in career form at the moment, using her patented stretch rally to earn seven snapshots on the year, with five of those decisions coming since the first of July.

The long-fused bay began this recent hot streak at the conditioned level, then finished up the last meet by knocking down three straight at the Open level. On each occasion, she was reserved early, made a big move to the leaders on the final bend and proved too much for them when it counted. Her July 22 tally resulted in a 1:53 tour, earning her a new lifetime mark.

Rhiana Seelster was sent off at 3-5 in the first Invitational at this meet two weeks ago, but found a prolonged first-over bid from last to be a bit too much to overcome and had to settle for fourth behind Biggest Big Bertha, beaten only a length for the whole thing. There were no such problems in last week’s get-together at the head of the class, however, as she was able to rally with that same rival’s cover to the drive and then ignited at crunch time to win going away by two and three-quarter lengths.

Biggest Big Bertha has fired big-time in both her tries at this meeting and looms the main rival once again. David Shell and Lora Stewart own the Little Steven offspring, with Matias Ruiz the conditioner and Ed Hensley set to give directions. She is trying to win for the 10th time this season in her 24th trip to the post.

Biggest Big Bertha put in a real nice late charge to post a 9-1 surprise in the Invite two weeks ago while finishing well out in the middle of the course. She did her work first-over last time, getting to the lead at midstretch but was unable to hold off Rhiana Seelster, who she had led up to that point. Rick Kuebler was her pilot for both those outings.

Vert Et Blanc and Kievline give the Herrera shedrow a big look at the outcome. The former has Lou Pena in the bike, while Gilbert will be guiding Kievline. They were third and fourth in last week’s top dance and both have victories at this Invitational level to their credit and are always capable of popping up with a huge effort.

Completing the field are Goaheadandlietome, who leaves from the cozy rail slot with Rick Plano, and Corky’s Baylor, with Luke Plano at the controls. The feature is set as the fourth on a 12 race program.

Fan favorites head trotting division

Unlike many of their thoroughbred counterparts, one of the things that makes harness horses so popular is their longevity. The fans get to know them over the years and they develop a following, and a couple of good examples would be Kash L’Argent and I’m Dam Goog, who were one-two in last week’s Invitational Trot.

Kash L’Argent is an 11-year-old who switched his base from the East Coast to California some five years ago and has been a mainstay at or near the top of his division ever since under Rick Plano’s direction. His victory in last week’s Invite was his 10th score from 30 trips to the post this season and pushed his career account over $317,000.

“This is a young 11-year-old,” Plano recently explained. “Because he didn’t race at two or three, which is when horses can really be tough on themselves, he’s been able to last and still competes with the best trotters. This isn’t to say he hasn’t had his physical problems, including a splint bone in his back leg a year ago, but he’s been able to overcome these things.”

When Kash L’Argent first burst onto the local scene, he was a dedicated front-end performer, but he’s mellowed with age and now seems to do his best work when he has a target.

“I did race him mostly on the front when he first came out here,” Plano related. “It’s always helpful to have that gate speed to get out of there and find a good tracking spot.”

That’s exactly what happened in last week’s Invitational Trot where Kash L’Argent posted a game decision while rewarding his backers to the tune of 4-1 that evening. Leaving from the five post, Plano buzzed his protégé out of there and found the two hole, stalked the pace-setting mare No Complications to the drive and then responded when the question was asked to get the job done by a neck over arch-rival I’m Dam Goog.

The 11-year-old showed in that near miss that he’s rounding back to his best work for Ed Hensley. Gregg Pistochini’s popular sidewheeler is now only a few thousand short of the half-million mark in earnings and the way he came rolling home in that last mile, it won’t be long before he reaches that plateau.

The target for both these road warriors is the mare No Complications, who has turned in back-to-back big efforts at this meet for Gilbert Herrera. She made every pole a winning one two weeks ago, then carved out every fraction last week and was only nailed in the final strides, missing by a grand total of a half length.

Another distaffer, Benn’s Fire, will also be very tough now that she’s had a race under her belt.