An Open III Pace that finds the streaking mare Graceful Horizon taking on the boys commands the spotlight Friday evening at Cal Expo.

First post for the Watch and Wager LLC program is 6:45 p.m. and eight races are on tap.

Graceful Horizon has won three of her last four starts, including last month’s Joe Alto Memorial, and it will be interesting to see how she fares against males in this contest.

Graceful Horizon is a 7-year-old daughter of Vertical Horizon who carries the banner of Set The Pace Racing LLC and is reined and trained by Nick Roland.

Sent off the 4-5 choice in the January 18 Joe Alto, she sat next-to-last through the early stages while some swift fractions were being set up front. She ignited when straightened for the drive and won going away by a length and a half.

Graceful Horizon put her class and versatility on display in her most recent outing two weeks ago, as she motored right to the top from her outside post over a sloppy track and proved handy 3-5 favorite that evening.

Taking her on, from the rail out, are Business Check, Atlantis, Jericho Willie, Aime Hanover and Ragged But Right.

With a five-bagger on last Saturday night’s program, Nick Roland has now taken a one-length lead over Luke Plano in the driver’s race.

Roland is also right in the thick of things in the trainer standings, as his 14 victories puts him two behind Quentin Schneider and two ahead of Rick Bertrand.

One of last Saturday’s victories for Roland came with his trainee Alilthundadownunda, who was able to work out a perfect pocket trip to account for the Open Pace in a snappy 1:54 4/5 tour.

Nick wasn’t so lucky earlier on the card with his trainee Over Ice, who suffered some early trouble before working to the lead and then tiring as the heavy favorite in the California Sire Stakes for the 4-year-old fillies.

It was Overthemoonforyou who was posing for pictures following that contest, making it six straight wins and seven from her eight starts at the meet for Qks Racing, trainer Schneider and pilot Aaron Lehman.

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A reminder that all 20-cent Pick 4s and Pick 5s at this meet come with a reduced 16 percent takeout rate. The early Pick 5 features a $20,000-guaranteed gross pool while the late Pick 4 has a $25,000 guarantee.

Free past performances for the early Pick 5 and late Pick 4 are available every racing night at handicapping.ustrotting.com, courtesy of the US Trotting Strategic Wagering Alliance.  

There are several ways you can go in Saturday night’s featured Open III Pace at Cal Expo, with two of the options being the very classy Allmyx’sliventexas and the hard-knocking Love Your Work.

The headliner goes as the sixth event on a nine-race card that is set to get underway at 6:35 p.m. under the Watch and Wager LLC banner.

Allmyx’sliventexas is one of the most popular performers on the grounds and comes into this assignment with 65 wins from his 215 starts, $371,000 in the bank and a 1:50 lifetime mark.

The 12-year-old Hi Ho Silverheel’s homebred races for Wayne Knittel, takes his lessons from Bob Johnson and will have James Kennedy giving directions.

Love Your Work comes out of the best races for driver/trainer Nick Roland as he exits last month’s Dave Goldschmidt and a pair of Open contests. Sarah Solheid and Brian Detgen own the son of Western Terror.

Capt Jack Hanover is up a notch in class as he eyes his fourth straight victory for driver/trainer John MacDonald, who co-owns the speedster with M.J. Kessler and Speed to Burn Racing Stable.

Rounding out the contentious cast are Tommy Shelby, Albergo Hanover, Major Offense and Myartbelongstorock.

Alexia Kehl is having a lot of fun with her veteran trotter Serene Hall, who gave her an initial pari-mutuel driving victory back in late December.

Alexia has seven performers under her care at this meet and admits a soft spot for the 9-year-old son of Guccio, who is closing in on the $200,000 mark in earnings.

“He doesn’t have a big personality like some horses, he just goes out and does his job,” Kehl related. “He’s a pleasure to drive, which makes him the perfect horse for an amateur driver like me.”

Alexia admits there were some nerves when she handled the sidewheeler back on December 28, as the public has backed Serene Hall down to 3-5 favoritism that evening.

After stalking the pace in that affair, Kehl made a sweeping move off the final bend and went on to a five-length romp. “There’s even more pressure when the public expects you to win, but everything worked out perfectly that night,” she noted.

In addition to Serene Hall, Kehl also conditions the classy trotter Dylan The Great, who won here last month and is coming off back-to-back runner-up efforts in the Open Trot.

Alexia will stay through the end of the meet in May, then will head back to Minnesota where she looks forward to working with a couple of babies.

The trotters and pacers will be in action on Friday and Saturday evening with first post on Fridays at 6:45 p.m. and a 6:35 p.m. starting time on Saturday.