You get the feeling Lemoyne 'Mooney' Svendsen wouldn’t trade seats with anyone when it comes to this Saturday night’s second round of sire stakes action at Cal-Expo. He will be handling the two-year-old Spoons for trainer Vickie Desomer.

One of three 'Team Desomer' performers in the cast, Spoons lost his best chance in the division's first big-money race when his stablemate No Strings made a break while on the lead. He came back last week and proved a punctual even-money choice in coast-to-coast fashion while earning his graduation papers.

“He’s a nice one and he’s raced well all three times I’ve driven him,” Svendsen related. “The first start we had the nine-hole, and when nobody was on the gate, I went ahead and sent him to the lead. It was a good try for a young horse.”

As mentioned earlier, that first stakes clash two weeks ago found things complicated by a breaking leader at the half, and Mooney acknowledges it didn’t do Spoons any favours.

“He only got beat three lengths, and it definitely confused him and affected the outcome.”

The Desomer homebred, however, got a nice victory under his belt in his most recent tour, which resulted in a wire-to-wire score.

“He did exactly what we wanted him to do in that mile,” Svendon said. “It was the first time he raced with earplugs, and when I pulled them about halfway around the final turn, he accelerated just the way you want when they come out.”

Live racing will resume at Cal-Expo on Thursday, October 21 and will continue through Saturday, October 23. First-race post time on Thursday is at 6:25 p.m. (PT). Approximate first-race post time on Friday and Saturday will be at 5:45 p.m.

On Saturdays, Cal-Expo offers a reduced 15 per cent takeout rate on both the Early and Late Pick-4 wagers, and both Pick-4s now have a $10,000 gross-guaranteed pool.

(Cal-Expo)