Princess Joy is slowly but surely inching her way toward the $100,000 earnings mark, and Lemoyne 'Mooney' Svendsen has been right there on the journey with this 10-year-old trotting mare.

“I picked her out of a field when she was just a yearling,” Svendsen related. “She was a late foal and a tiny thing, but I loved the way she moved and her attitude. She didn’t race at two, then she broke her maiden in two minutes flat and I thought she was going to make us lots of money in the stakes races.”

At the time, Svendsen owned a half-interest in Princess Joy along with D&E Racing Inc. and things started out nicely as far as the big-dollar events were concerned.

“She won a Gold Series race and then a sire stakes, but then she suffered a slab fracture and was out for the next six months and missed the rest of the stakes races,” Mooney explained.

“That was the year Ahh Saundra was dominating them, and she won nearly $100,000 that season. We were the only filly to beat her, and it was very disappointing to miss the rest of those stakes because I think we actually had the better trotter.”

Fast-forward some seven years and Princess Joy is still doing her thing, albeit in modest claiming company. She is coming off back-to-back wins with Svendsen in the bike, coming from off the pace two back and making every pole a winning one at most recent asking.

“She’s always been versatile,” her mentor noted. “She can leave very strong, but she’ll also duck if you want her to. The only thing she won’t do is trot in the mud, which is why I scratched her a few weeks ago. I’m not going to take the chance that she hurts herself.”

Despite celebrating her 10th birthday last month, Svendsen relates that the bay miss still enjoys doing her thing.

“She’s getting old and has her problems, but she still loves racing. She’s something of a barn pet, and she’ll always be My Princess Joy.”

Rebecca Jones Captures Handicapping Tourney

Rebecca Jones of Ventura captured the top prize in last week’s finale of the $10,000 Cal-Expo Midweek Madness Handicapping Tournament, taking home $2,500 for her efforts.

“I became interested in harness racing when I met my husband 30 years ago,” explained Rebecca, who has been married to Marty Garey for 29 of those years. “He’s been a lifelong fan, and he’s owned some nice horses, including Knead To Shine, who was a stakes winner for Wayne Short.”

Rebecca, who retired this past December after 35 years on the Board of Equalization, gives lots of credit to her husband for her handicapping success during both the opening round and last week’s Thursday night final.

“I relied on his advice quite a bit, he’s the one who knows the horses,” she said. “He’s at the Ventura site almost every night. It was really exciting, because he kept telling me right along that he thought I had a real good chance as each race finished.”

Marty made it a point to emphasize the positive side of this contest.

“I would like to add how much we appreciate Cal-Expo putting up $10,000 in prize money to hold contests like this. We both love the sport of harness racing and I do everything I can to talk about it and bring in more fans.

“Contests like this provide a great opportunity to get more people to participate and learn about this great sport of ours and to get more educated about what makes it unique compared to thoroughbred and quarter horses.

“We would also like to thank the Ventura Seaside Park Derby Club and particularly Jason, for their hospitality and for doing such a great job running the contest. They provide me a wonderful ‘home away from home’ with great friends and camaraderie every night of the week that harness racing is held at Cal-Expo.”

Distaff Open, Super High 5 Carryover On Tap At Cal-Expo

A $6,100 Open Pace for the fillies and mares and a $4,404 carryover in the early Super High 5 get the marquee treatment at Cal-Expo tonight.

Cal-Expo offers a pair of Super High 5 wagers on each program, with the 50-cent minimum bet decided on the third and eighth races. With Saturday night’s (February 13) late Super High 5 going unhit, it carries over to Thursday night’s third race with the pool expected to reach $12,500 when all is said and done.

Looking at the main event, Biggest Big Bertha and Sintillating figure to get the majority of the attention. The former is a nine-year-old mare that carries the banner of Marilee Keene with hails from the Rick Plano barn. She recently went over the $300,000 earnings mark and has accounted for two of the last three distaff Opens.

Biggest Big Bertha chased home some tough males last weekend, but two weeks ago was a solid winner over this group as she made what proved to be the winning move from fifth to first on the backside and went on to a one and three-quarter-length decision.

Sintillating is a Little Steven homebred who goes about her business for Alan Kirschenbaum and Denise Maier while being reined and trained by Tim Maier. She is coming off a near miss to Shock And Awe last week and returns to face her peers in this spot. She took down the filly-mare Open on January 21 over a sloppy track with her usual strong finish. Rounding out the field are Castle Oaks, Don’t Tempt Me and Silver Bloom.

Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo tonight and continues through Saturday, February 20. First-race post tonight is at 5:05 p.m. (PST). First-race post time on Friday, February 19 is at 5:30 p.m. First-race post time on Saturday is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

(Cal-Expo)