Live
A Little has his work cut out as he moves up off a victory in conditioned
company to the head of the class this weekend at Cal Expo, but regular pilot
Lemoyne “Mooney” Svendsen is confident he’ll be doing some serious pacing at
the end.
The
4-year-old Crisis Situation homebred races for Wayne and Rod Knittel with Bob
Johnson the conditioner and last week’s tally was his fifth from 14 trips to
the post this season.
What
makes Live A Little’s most recent victory so impressive is the fact that he
spotted his rivals a nice head start when he made a break as the gate was
rolling, but recovered to take the lead at the half and go on to a length and
three-quarters decision to the relief of the chalk-players who took 90 cents on
the dollar.
“I
didn’t see anybody on the gate, so I tried to leave with him and he wasn’t sure
about it,” Svendsen explained. “Once he
got it together he was solid as a rock, though.
I can’t say I was totally surprised he jumped it off, but I wanted to
give it a try.
“The
other time he made a break before the start was over a sloppy track last
month. When you have the combination of
his being a little funky-gaited and the off track, it’s not going to be good.”
