by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — Long Last Look is certainly one of the major players in Saturday night’s (Sept. 25) finale of the TVG Amateur Driver series, but things got a lot more testing for the pacer when he landed the No. 9 post in the full field.

Dave Siegel will be guiding Long Last Look for the first time, and he has a pretty unique perspective on the race having driven LS Orchardwinner to victory in one of the divisions of the opening leg and Magicality to an impressive score in last week’s penultimate leg.

As claiming was allowed in those first two legs, it’s been a game of musical chairs as far as Magicality and Long Last Look are concerned. The former was red-tagged last time and now has Karen Isbell at the controls from the cozy No. 2 slot, while Long Last Look is back in Earl Kennedy’s barn after being claimed from Rick Bertrand from last week’s runner-up finish behind Magicality.

“This will be the first time I’ve driven Long Last Look, and it’s certainly going to be a challenge coming from the nine hole,” Siegel related. “We know he can win from behind, but if you look at his race three back, he did leave from the outside, so I do have some options. We’ll just have to see how things play out.”

Siegel has plenty of respect for Magicality, who just missed in the first leg and left little doubt at even-money in last week’s get-together.

“I did something with him in that first race that I normally don’t do, making a big backside brush from sixth to the lead, but they went a very slow first quarter. He was pretty game that night, but Long Last Look was a little gamer and got him.

“Last week, I was sitting in at the quarter and saw that a horse was being parked out and probably was going to stay hung out there, so I moved my horse to avoid getting locked in. He was very strong into the stretch and I knew I had a lot of gas in the tank.”

Dave also drove LS Orchardwinner to a score in a division of the opening leg, and he certainly lost his best chance last week when he was the horse who was hung out to dry in the opening half-mile.

“I was actually surprised he was 1-2 in that first leg, but it was the weaker of the two divisions and he was solid winning that night,” Siegel related.

Saturday’s finale will also decide who takes down the 2010 Amateur Driver title. Sue Boyce, who won the spring finale with Big Guy Two Win, is tied with Rick Bertrand for the lead, while Siegel is within hailing distance and can take down the top spot with a victory this weekend.

Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Thursday (Sept. 23) and continues through Saturday (Sept. 25). Post time on Thursday is at 5:40 p.m. (PDT). Post time on Friday (Sept. 24) is at 6 p.m. Approximate post time on Saturday is 5:45 p.m.