by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Columbus, OH — Steve Wiseman isn’t the Lone Ranger and TV Ghost isn’t Silver, but they put on quite a show on the front end last weekend.

No doubt helped by the early miscue of favored Bobby Baccala, Nathalie Tremblay’s 5-year-old trotter opened up an amazing 15 length lead while ripping off a half in :57, actually increased that advantage to 19 lengths by the three-quarters and then came to the wire with a half-dozen to spare for his second victory in his last three starts.

Because of his flashy style and that spooky name and color, TV Ghost is one of those performers that is hard to miss. He’s certainly found a home here at Cal Expo since coming in from Ohio in November, with the two victories and three runner-up finishes from his five California appearances.

“I was looking for a trotter at the Delaware sale and got outbid on about 10 or so before he came along,” Tremblay related. “He was big, so I thought he’d appreciate moving to a mile track, and he was eligible for non-winners of one, so he fit the conditions.”

TV Ghost has shown the way to deep stretch in all five of his local tries, twice taking them the distance for Wiseman. And what was his trainer thinking last week when he put up that sparkling half-mile fraction?

“I was saying to myself, where is the rest of the field?,” Nathalie explained. “I was just hoping he could keep going. Steve says you just can’t hold him, so it’s best to let him roll out there. I realize he hasn’t really been finishing like he should in his races, but it turns out he’s a bad bleeder. I’m working on getting that fixed, and in the meantime, he’s pretty much paid for himself already.”

Of course, the biggest win of the week for the Tremblay/Wiseman combination came in last Saturday night’s main event, where they joined forces with Cycle Power to crush the field by seven-plus lengths in a sizzling 1:52.3 tour. The clocking shaved a cool second and a tick off the 5-year-old pacer’s lifetime standard.

Both performers are back in action Saturday night, as TV Ghost steps up in class in the evening’s fifth race, while Cycle Power eyes a repeat in the featured seventh on the program.

Live racing resumes at Cal Expo on Thursday (Jan. 20) and continues through Saturday (Jan. 22). Post time on Thursday is 5:30 p.m. (PST). Post time on Friday and Saturday is at 6 p.m.