by Mark Ratzky, publicity, Cal-Expo

Sacramento, CA — Any resemblance at Cal Expo between the first start for the 3-year-old pacing filly Lust and her second trip to the post last week are purely coincidental.

Carrying the banner of Wayne Knittel and David Neumeister with Bob Johnson the conditioner and Lemoyne Svendsen at the helm, Lust earned her diploma at second asking after having little chance in a troubled debut.

Sent off at 3-2 in her May 5 debut, the bay miss found herself buried behind a poor flow by the half, then ran into serious traffic troubles in the stretch and never had a chance. It was another story at 3-1 last time, however, as Svendsen left with her, was covered up to the stretch and then dug in when it counted for a neck graduation.

Cal Expo photo

Lemoyne “Mooney” Svendsen guided Lust to victory last week.

“She’d only been here about five or six days before that first start and we didn’t know much about her,” Svendsen related. “I told Bob after the race that she seemed to have plenty of go, just nowhere to pace.

“I drove her a lot more aggressively last time. I really didn’t have to leave with her all that much to make the lead, and each time I asked her for something along the way, she gave it to me. Hopefully, she’ll turn out to be a good one.”

Lust is by Real Desire out of the Beach Towel mare BJ’s Beach Fire, making her a half sister to the popular mare Beach Beach Beach, who has made a number of winner’s circle appearances here over the years under Johnson’s direction and Svendsen’s handling.

“They actually look pretty much alike, except that Beach Beach Beach has more size to her,” Svendsen related.

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Through the end of the meeting, Thursday nights will find both Pick 4s with a reduced 15 percent takeout rate, while the Late Pick 4 comes attached with a $10,000 guaranteed gross pool.

Last Thursday night’s Late Pick 4 returned a healthy $745 for each winning $1 investment, thanks in large part to the $35 upset by No Strings in the final leg.

By comparison, the old payout for this Pick 4 would have been in the neighborhood of $660, instead of the $745 return that came as a result of the reduced takeout.

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This weekend will find the final round of Sire Stakes for the spring, with the top 3-year-old trotters and pacers in action.

The star of the show is D&E Racing Inc.’s pacing male Shamderock, who has won seven straight and is looking to continue a clean sweep of the big-money races for the division.

The Rick Plano trainee won the first two stakes clashes this season by 14 and eight lengths, respectively, then captured the last one two weeks ago in another dominating performance. He lowered his mark to 1:54 in capturing a conditioned event in his most recent appearance.

Looking at the pacing fillies, Math Wiz is eyeing her second straight trophy while taking on the likes of Dine N Wine, Whip And A Prayer and Poor House. Lodi Nickolus is the one to beat among the trotting colts, while Thatssomebracciola and Claim Jumper get top billing in the distaff trotting event.

Live racing resumes at Cal Expo on Thursday (May 19) and continues through Saturday (May 21). Post time on Thursday is 5:30 p.m. (PDT). Post time on Friday and Saturday is 6 p.m.