by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo
Sacramento, CA — Lemoyne “Mooney” Svendsen is back at Cal Expo after spending the summer in his home state of Minnesota and is looking forward to driving some nice horses, many of which happen to hail from the Bob Johnson barn.
“I’ve been here for 12 years now, and this is where I consider home to be,” said Svendsen. “My wife Jodi, who is doing well in her fight with breast cancer, and my son are with me.”
Svendsen comes into this weekend with exactly 2,600 driving victories. During the local break following the spring session, he headed to Minnesota and Running Aces Racetrack with the intention of spending a working vacation in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but it turned out to be a little more on the vacation side than originally planned.
“I was only back there four days when they had the state government shutdown,” he explained. “That was on the first of July, and there wasn’t any racing for three weeks. It was pretty bleak, because the horsemen had no idea when it was going to start up again.”
The upside was that Mooney, who is from a town called Albert Lea, was able to spend more time with his family, including his brother and sister. Eventually, Running Aces did start up again and he made his share of winner’s circle appearances before getting back to Sacramento for last week’s action.
Running Aces is a five-eighths oval, while Svendsen is returning to the mile track at Cal Expo. Does he have a preference when it comes to the size of the layout over which he competes?
“I like them both, as long as there’s some money waiting at the finish line,” he replied.
Cal Expo is now offering a reduced 15 percent takeout rate on Saturday for both Pick-4s. In addition, the late Pick-4 will come with a $15,000 guaranteed pool and there will be a zero percent takeout on successful Late Pick-4 tickets made on track or at Twinspires.com.
The trotters and pacers will be in action on Friday and Saturday nights until October 6, when the schedule expands to Thursday, Friday and Saturday programs. Post time on Friday (September 16) and Saturday (September 17) is at 6 p.m. (PDT).