Pompano Beach, FL — Prairie Panther scored a repeat victory in Pompano Park’s $11,500 Open Handicap Pace on Monday night (March 8), conquering six worthy opponents and near gale-force wind gusts in the process.

Prairie Panther scored a repeat win in Pompano Park’s Open Handicap Pace on Monday night. Dee Leftwich photo.

The versatile 7-year-old gelded son of Royel Millennium changed strategy this night after a courageous win last week on the engine, coming from well off the pace to score in 1:51.2 under the direction of Hall of Fame driver Wally Hennessey. Seeing Eye Single (David Miller) closed fastest of all to be second, three-parts of a length away, while Skip To My Lou, assigned the outside post in this field, rallied from last halfway through the mile to finish third.

With very strong winds providing a tailwind from the first turn to the half-mile junction, it was Southwind Amazon (Peter Wrenn) in an early war for supremacy with Alluneedisfaith N (Mike Simons) taking the field through an opening panel in a breezy :26.4 with Funknwaffles (Kevin Wallis) next. Just after that initial quarter, both Allunneedisfaith N and Funknwaffles were both on the move with Alluneedisfaith N taking charge briefly before yielding to Funknwaffles with the strong wind setting up a half in a sizzling :53.2.

On the backside, things began to boil over with Ideal Feeling going first up into the wind with Prairie Panther catching his live cover, as did Skip To My Lou, now third over. After reaching the third platform in 1:22.2 and turning for home, Ideal Feeling stick his head in front but they were all fanned across the racetrack with Prairie Panther surging to the lead with his :28.3 finale getting him to the winner’s circle for the 43rd time during his career measuring 102 starts.

In a post race interview, Hennessey remarked, “What can I say…he shows up for work every week. It was pretty windy out there and there seemed to be some speed inside materializing, so I kept out of that hoping the fractions would be quick for us to pounce on the backside. After that half (:53.2), I was lucky enough to catch some live cover and the Panther did the rest. You have to give credit to the trainer, who keeps him razor sharp and the dedicated caretakers who put in the hours to bring out the best in him.”

Trainer Mike Deters added, “Panther raced great. He has a great set of lungs and, probably, his greatest attribute is he rarely gets tired. If he does have a flaw, it’s that he doesn’t have very good gate speed and that’s why I was so surprised that he won last week that way. Hats off to Wally for putting him in a position to win.”

Deters co-owns the winner with breeder Laurie Poulin. Prairie Panther now has banked $408,730. Though he was the 5-2 morning line favorite, he went off as the third choice at 7-2 and paid $9.40 to win.

The $10,000 Open II Pace went to Lets Roll for driver Mike Simons. The 6-year-old son of Roll With Joe made a bold first up move on the backside, stuck his head in front around the final bend, and went on to score a 2-1/2 length win in 1:51.3 for his third win of the season. Mach West (Hennessey) was second while Windemere Ryan (Braxton Boyd) was next.

Owned by Rosie Huff along with Beauty Bridle Racing and Our Three Sons Stable, Let’s Roll won for the 18th time in his career, sending his lifetime bounty to $170,060. As fourth choice in the betting, Lets Roll paid $11.40 to win.

Pompano Park’s Pick-6 continues to pay rich dividends as the the 5-5-7-2-6-6 sequence, with the longest price being $12.60, paid $4,073.15 for the 50-cent ticket.

Racing continues on Tuesday with a $20,000 guaranteed pool for the track’s Pick-4, featuring the lowest takeout in the industry — 12 percent — and a Super Hi-5 Jackpot of $38,434.75. Post time is set for 7:20 p.m.