The first California Sire Stakes of the season for the 3-year-old pacing males is the main attraction Friday night at Cal Expo with a field of eight vying in the $20,000 contest.

Watch and Wager LLC will present 10 races Friday night with first post set for 6:45 p.m. The co-features are an Open Pace headed by Alilthundadownunda and a Filly-Mare Open Pace featuring Graceful Horizon.  

The Minnesota Kid looms a major player in the Sire Stakes as the son of Karpathian Kid will be making his seasonal debut for owner Stephanie Ann Longo, trainer Jose Castillo and pilot Luke Plano.

He showed plenty of potential last summer at Running Aces, winning three of his five starts and has a couple of solid qualifiers under his belt to prepare for this assignment.

Blazin For Life is another in here who displayed promise as a 2-year-old in Minnesota and scored a solid victory over this course two weeks ago for owners Alan and Cheryl Sandbulte and trainer Nick Roland.

That barn will also be represented by Set The Pacing Racing LLC’s JK Cache Meoutside, who just missed in his local debut last week to another major player in Dougs Moonshine, who goes about his business for owner/breeders Rick Bertrand, Doug Flores and Amy Fichtner, with Bertrand training.

Tutto Bene was a solid performer at Running Aces and should be well prepped for this stakes task with a nice tightener under his belt from last weekend. Jessie Pacheco reins and trains the Ronald Rettig-Zucchi homebred.

Completing the field are Night Train Lane, Yerderntootin and Ain’t No Uppity Man.

Tutto Bene translates to “everything’s Ok” in English, and that’s exactly how Jessie Pacheco feels about his pacer going into this week’s first round of Sire Stakes for the 3-year-olds.

A homebred son of Karpathian King who carries the banner of Ronald Rettig-Zucchi, he won three of his seven starts last year at Running Aces, including a 1:57 tour over that five-eighths oval.

Following a pair of qualifiers here, he showed good speed in his seasonal debut last week and is now nice and tight for this richer assignment.

“He’s a stud, but for the most part he’s pretty gentle,” Pacheco noted. “He was a quick learner and has a very good attitude. He pr does whatever you ask him.

“I broke him and then my dad had him in Minnesota last year. He raced against the best 2-year-olds there and did pretty well.”

Jessie notes that it was the plan along to get a couple of qualifiers into Tutto Bene and then a race before diving into the stakes schedule at this meet.

“I wasn’t thinking about leaving with him last week, but nobody was going and I let him roll. He got a real nice tightener from that mile and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do in these stakes races.”

Jessie notes that it was the plan along to get a couple of qualifiers into Tutto Bene and then a race before diving into the stakes schedule at this meet.

“I wasn’t thinking about leaving with him last week, but nobody was going and I let him roll. He got a real nice tightener from that mile and I’m looking forward to see what he does in these stakes races.”

An Open Trot that brings out All Champy and Lous Lancelot and the first $20,000 California Sire Stakes for the 3-year-old pacing fillies share the spotlight Saturday evening at Cal Expo.

There will be 10 races conducted under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with things getting underway at 6:35 p.m.

Looking at the Sire Stakes, DM Magic Player figures to have a major say as she takes on her peers this weekend.

She is a daughter of Aracache Hanover races for Qks Racing, takes her lessons from Quentin Schneider and will have Aaron Lehman back at the controls. The hard-hued miss has been knocking on the door in her five starts at this meet and looms large in this cast.

In the co-feature, Lous Lancelot is a 6-year-old son of Lou’s Legacy who is owned by Elliot Gorov, takes his lessons from Chip Lackey and will once again have Luke Plano in the sulky.

He has accounted for a pair of Opens this season, prevailing on the front end over a good track on January 3 and then being moved to the victory by the stewards on the disqualification of Pridecrest two weeks ago.

All Champy had a brutal chip in that aforementioned February 8 top dance for the trotters and will be looking for some revenge this weekend. The Steve Chambers-owned, Kathie Plested-trained veteran had captured his previous three appearances, including the Joe Lighthill.

A reminder there is a reduced 16% takeout rate on all 20-cent Pick 4s and 20-cent Pick 5s here at Cal Expo, with a $20,000-guaranteed gross pool on the early Pick 5 and a $25,000-guaranteed pool on the late Pick 4.

To get an idea on the value offered, look at last Friday night’s Pick 5, which turned out to be a mix of logical winners and a couple of bombs and returned a sweet $5,406 for each winning 20-cent ticket.

The sequence got off to an explosive start when Quite The Flirt rode the rail for James Kennedy to capture the opener at 31-1, followed by a pair of chalks in Reagan Blue Chip ($2.40) and Zach Maguire ($4.80).

Nonversation came flying when it counted for Rene Goulet to post a 17-1 upset in the penultimate event, with Celebrity Status making it two wins in a row at $8.20 to round out the sequence. 

Free past performances for the early Pick 5 and late Pick 4 are always available at handicapping.ustrotting.com.

The trotters and pacers will be in action here on Friday and Saturday night, with first post on Friday being 6:45 p.m. while starting time for the Saturday program is set at 6:35 p.m.