by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — Blue Canyon is one of the easiest horses to spot at Cal-Expo, as the 8-year-old pacing son of Tulane is not only just this side of white, but also literally towers over most of his rivals.

When Blue Canyon suits up in Saturday’s (August 14) opener, he will be making his 188th lifetime appearance, with 19 wins, 24 seconds and a like number of thirds to show for these efforts and a 1:55.2 career standard from two years ago. The veteran is owned by Bridget Desomer and will as usual be guided by her husband Etienne.

When last seen under the lights here in late May, Blue Canyon was definitely floundering with a pair of breaks, but judging by his sparkling victory in a matinee event last weekend, he’s gearing up for a much brighter second half of his 2010 campaign.

“I have two people to thank for Blue Canyon’s mile last week,” related Bridget. “One is Pam Greer, who I met indirectly through my mother-in-law Vickie. Pam was nice enough to let Blue Canyon stay up at her place during the break, and they had five acres of grass, trees and a pond that they shared with a quarter horse and a retired Standardbred named Riverman.

“Blue Canyon and my other horse, Tu Charming, spent the majority of their vacation swimming in the pond, which I believe kept them sharp. They both came back to the racetrack with a new attitude and muscles I didn’t even remember seeing before.”

Bridget also credits her husband Etienne with some adjustments that seem to be agreeing with the big gray.

“He’s changed his shoeing behind to something that I have never seen in many years in this business. Tien and our blacksmith Louie have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to shoe him. If Blue Canyon continues to pace the way he did in that mile last Saturday (August 7), by George, I think they’ve got it!”

By the way, Blue Canyon’s 187 trips to the post isn’t the most in the cast. Drawn just to his inside on the rail is the 10-year-old Mow Em Down from the Nick Casale barn, and this guy is making start No. 254 in the evening’s opener. Talk about your iron horses!

Rich Wojcio returns to the sulky

Rich Wojcio, who has won 3,632 races in his career for earnings of over $21 million, returns to action Friday night (August 13) after being away from the wars since January following a very scary spill.

The 49-year-old Wojcio suffered a concussion, broken left arm and facial injuries in that accident, and is happy to be back to work as the second half of this meeting gets underway.

“I don’t remember a thing about the race, just waking up and being all banged up,” he related. “It’s the worst accident I’ve had in 34 years of driving, and I was just grateful that nobody else was hurt.”

Rich has been back at the track since early April, gradually building his strength back up.

“The healing process went pretty well, but I had to go to physical therapy for about seven weeks for what they call frozen shoulder, which means everything in that area had tightened up.”

Last weekend saw a series of matinee races to get both horses and drivers ready, and Rich came away with a quartet of victories.

“It felt good to be back in the bike,” he said. “I was a little anxious for the first one, but after that it was just like I didn’t miss a day. I want to thank everybody for their support, because it’s meant a lot to me.”

Interestingly, one of Wojcio’s drives on Friday will be behind Calzone in the featured trot. Like his pilot, the side-wheeler is making his initial evening foray in seven months.

Opening night of the summer/fall/winter meet is Friday, August 13, with racing through December 18. The live August schedule will be Friday and Saturday, August 13 and 14, as well as August 20 and 21. The following week, Cal-Expo will switch over to its most recent traditional schedule of Thursday through Saturday (August 26-28). Post times are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. (PDT), however, it should be noted that post time on Friday (August 13) is at 6:20 p.m. and Saturday (August 14) is at 6:15 p.m.