Pompano Beach, FL — Skip To My Lou, driven by owner-trainer Joe Chindano Jr., survived pressure throughout the mile and, particularly, from both sides of the isle in the stretch, to win Pompano Park’s $11,000 Open Handicap Pace on Monday (March 22).

The tiny 5-year-old gelded son of Sweet Lou covered his mile in 1:52, with his last half in :55.4 to repel the serious threats of Real Peace (David Miller) and Seeing Eye Single (John MacDonald) by a half-length.

Skip To My Lou survived an onslaught to win the Monday feature. Dee Leftwich photo.

Leaving from post five, Skip To My Lou passed Real Peace shortly after the wings folded and proceeded to an opening panel of :27. As Chindano began to give his charge a second quarter breather, Seeing Eye Single decided to force the issue and, from fifth, rushed up to join the leader halfway through the mile in :56.1. These two continued to race as a team on the backside as the pace quickened — three-quarters in 1:24.1 — and, turning for home, Skip To My Lou drifted out a lane allowing Real Peace to join the fray in the final yards.

Said Chindano after the race, “I really didn’t know how good he would be tonight because I gave him a week off to freshen up and only trained him lightly. He’s so handy and he’ll do anything on the racetrack to win…either on the front or off the pace. He sure dug in when it counted, that’s for sure. He raced giant.”

In achieving his sixth success of the year in nine starts, Skip To My Lou sent his 2021 bounty to $36,330 and $148,411 lifetime. Off at 3-5 on the toteboard, Skip To My Lou paid $3.40 to his multitude of faithful.

Chindano also handled the winner of one of the faster miles of the night — 1:51 — by the Angie Coleman trained Millennial, another son of Sweet Lou. This 4-year-old used a :26.4 backside blitz from fourth to take charge and opened up an insurmountable lead around the final bend before scoring by eight lengths in a new lifetime best performance. Left in his wake were Mac Anover (Kevin Wallis) and Rocksapatriot (Dave Ingraham).

Owned by Gabe Wand, Millennial sent his career earnings to $41,990 with the win and paid $12.20 as third choice in the betting.

The $10,000 Open II Pace went to the highly regarded Funknwaffles, driven by David Miller, also in 1:51. The 7-year-old altered son of American Ideal took charge at the hot :27.1 opener and carded subsequent panels of :55.3 and 1:23 before a :28 finale was just good enough to hold the surging Mach West (Wally Hennessey) safe by a nose. Rockin Machine (Rick Plano) was a fast closing third.

Funknwaffles, trained by Tony Alagna for Crawford Farms Racing, paid $2.80 in continuing his comeback and assault on the million dollar plateau in earnings — his now at $976,754.

Miller had a grand slam on Monday night, scoring with Beyond The View ($4.60), Ideal Feeling ($2.40) and E Z Noah ($3.40) besides the aforementioned Funknwaffles.

Ideal Feeling scored the fastest mile of the night — 1:50.4 — in the $8,000 conditioned/optional claiming event. The 6-year-old son of American Ideal, trained by Peter Blood for owner Rick Berks, drew off to score by four lengths for his 20th career victory, vaulting his lifetime bankroll to $286,958.

The Pompano Park Pick-6 continued to pay handsome dividends with the six winners being 9-5, 3-2, 2-5, 5-1, 2-1 and 4-1 and paying $3,150.35 for the 50-cent ticket.

Racing continues on Tuesday night with a guaranteed pool in the Pick-4 and a Super Hi-5 jackpot bursting at the seams at $92,691.35. Post time is set for 7:20 p.m.