by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal Expo Harness

Sacramento, CA — Mooney Svendsen is currently piloting the leaders of both the 3- and 4-year-old California Sire Stakes male pacing divisions in Allmyx’sliventexas and Army Of One.

Both are homebred sons of Hi Ho Silverheel’s who compete for Wayne and Rod Knittel and take their lessons from Bob Johnson. Allmyx’sliventexas is coming off one of the most sizzling races of the Cal Expo meeting, winning the first stakes of the season for his division by 11 lengths in a sparkling 1:51.4 front-end performance.

“Bob and I felt he was sitting on a big race, because he’d been racing from off the pace and coming an amazing last three-quarters,” Svendsen explained. “Even with that, I was surprised at the mile he went.

“Usually when I let him roll he relaxes perfectly and I can drive him with two fingers, but that night he was like a rocket. He grabbed that bit and I did all I could just to hold on. He was unbelievable.”

Army Of One has accounted for both of the Sire Stakes for the 3-year-old colts, scoring an easy victory in the first and then just holding on by a head in the most recent big-money clash last week after carving out all the fractions.

“He’s got a lot of potential, and might turn out to be as good as Allmyx’sliventexas,” Svendsen related. “He’s only had five races and his problem is he’s still pretty green.”

Featured trot brings out well-matched field

A conditioned trot headed by Kickinitwithkohler, Big Baller and Lodi Dorian Blues gets the marquee treatment on Friday night at Cal Expo.

First post for the Watch and Wager LLC program is 6:15 p.m. The main event will go as the sixth race, and there will also be a non-betting California Sire Stakes for the 4-year-old trotters to be decided prior to the regular card.

Kickinitwithkohler is a 5-year-old daughter of Southwind Breeze and the Go Get Lost mare Shove-off who races for Tonight’s The Knight, is trained by Kennedy Lindsey and will have the services of James Kennedy.

The hard-knocking mare rattled off back-to-back conditioned victories on Feb. 10 and 18, using a strong closing kick to get the job done, then stepped up to the Open for last week’s assignment.

While no match for heavily-favored Silverlode and runner-up My Little Susie, Kickinitwithkohler did put in a solid rally for the show money that night and looms a major player in Friday’s line-up.

Big Baller is a 10-year-old son of Panama Hanover who goes about his business for the partnership of David Siegel, Greg Robinson, Robert Thronson and George Reider with Reider the conditioner and Siegel at the controls.

Big Baller recorded his most recent tally on Jan. 14, parlaying a pocket trip into a 1-3/4 length decision. He subsequently finished fourth in the Gary Budahn final and fifth in last week’s Open and should appreciate the class relief for this assignment.