Pompano Beach, FL — The highly anticipated slugfest between the Pompano Park home team, led by Captain Wally Hennessey, and Captain Yannick Gingras’ visiting team began on Tuesday night (March 15) at the south Florida oval with each team trading jabs and punches with Team Hennessey leading 63-44 going into Wednesday night’s (March 16) final four rounds.

The first round was delayed some 50 minutes as torrential rains pummeled the track but the track crew did a remarkable job in getting the surface in safe racing condition.

Here is a recap of the action:

Wally Hennessey and Holton squeaked by a stubborn Manwilling in 1:58.1. Jessica Hallett photo.

In the first round, Team Hennessey traded jabs with Team Gingras early as Manwilling (Gingras) and Holton (Hennessey) were one-two through sloppy panels of :28.3, 1:00 and 1:29.4. In the final stages of the round, Holton pulled from the cozy pocket, threw a left and a right to stagger Manwilling a bit with each trading punches near the end of the round with Holton the narrow winner in 1:58.1. Thundercrest (Dexter Dunn-Team Gingras) was next while Glide In The Wind (David Miller-Team Hennessey) was fourth. Aquillo (Kevin Wallis-Team Hennessey) picked up the nickel with the judges’ scorecard reading 14-12 in favor of Team Hennessey.

Hennessey said, “Considering the very heavy rain, the track was remarkably good, so kudos to them. I thought my horse might be a second or so better than the rest here and he won by, maybe a neck. He dug in when he had to and his :28.1 sprint home did the job. You always need horse power to win, but I might have had a bit to do with the win this time with that second quarter (:31.2) breather.”

Holton is a 5-year-old gelded son of Dontyouforgetit trained by Maurice Goldschmidt Jr., who co-owns with Oldford Racing. Off at 1-2, the winner paid $3.00 to win and sent his lifetime earnings to $76,110.

As the bell rang in the second round, Team Gingras came out swinging as the Captain took Rockntouch right to the front going a quick opening panel of :27.2 with Mc Mach (Hennessey) in the garden spot, Machiatto A (Wallis) third and Drunkonaplane (Miller) fourth and beginning to throw some punching power during the second panel.

At the :56.3 half, Drunkonaplane and Rockintouch were in a slugfest with the flurry continuing past the third station in 1:24.4. At this point, Mc Mach started to join the slugfest while landing a staggering blow at mid-stretch to score a victory by almost two lengths in 1:54. Drunkonaplane did finish second over Rockntouch. Machiatto A and EY Cowboy (James MacDonald (Team Gingras) completed the top five with the judges’ scorecards reading 34-18 after the round.

Hennessey said, “I was a bit concerned when I saw he (Mc Mach) made a break in his last start but Rick (trainer Plano) he was good and ready to go. Rick, you know, has over 7,000 driving wins and over 4,000 training wins and he’s one of the most astute horsemen I know. When he says a horse is ready, he’s ready. It was also a great birthday present for Mindy Repko, who co-owns Mc Mach with her husband, Jan, and Rick’s wife, Maryann.”

Mc Mach is an 8-year-old altered son of Mach Three with career earnings of $245,619 on the strength of 28 lifetime wins. He paid $7.60 to win.

Dexter Dunn drove Hallsglensmavis to a handy 1:55.1 win. Jessica Hallett photo.

Trailing on the judges’ scorecards by a wide margin, Team Gingras came out swinging in round three with a flurry of punches as Dexter Dunn sent Hallsglensmavis right to the front and kept jabbing away through panels of :27.4, :56.4 and 1:25.2 before coasting home in :29.4 to hit the wire a winner in 1:55.1. Team Gingras also finished second and third with Captain Gingras doing some serious double-bubble punching with Skyway Venus to get the place honors (at 29-1) with Indian Creek Kyla (Andrew McCarthy-Team Gingras) third. Team Hennessey did save the fourth and fifth spots with Goldstar Rockette (Wallis) and Queen Me Again (Hennessey) but the 22-4 margin put Team Gingras ahead 40-38 on all three judges’ scorecards.

Driver Dunn said, “Going into the race, I saw that this horse had a very good win resume and some early speed in a couple of her lines. I said, ‘I gotta get our team back in the ballgame here, so I decided to send her. We put some daylight on them on the backside and probably was the difference on a track that might be tiring on the front steppers. It worked out OK.”

Hallsglensmavis is a 5-year-old daughter of Thinking Out Loud trained by Michael Ellis for owner Kim Lezanchuk. It was her second win of the year and 15th lifetime to send her career bounty to $116,570. Off at 4-5, she paid $3.80 to win.

With a scratch of a horse from Gingras’ team in round four, Team Hennessey now had a chance to take advantage of a four to three situation and took full advantage with punches, jabs, uppercuts, rights and lefts from all sides to capture the first four spots in the finale.

Hennessey led the parade by guiding the 14-year-old Lyons Johnny to a wire-to-wire win in 1:55.1 off panels of :27.2, :57.2 and 1:26.1 while teammate Miller finished second with Rope The Moon. Prairie Midnight (Wallis) threw the most devastating punches late to be third while Bunkerhill Phil (Peter Wrenn) was next. Born Of Fire (MacDonald) picked up a point for Team Gingras while the scratched entrant was awarded three points.

Hennessey said, “This is an amazing warhorse, Lyons Johnny is. Not many horses can make 300 starts in their career. Many can’t make 50. But he is a warrior and really raced his heart out tonight. He had a (1):49 and a piece mark here a long time ago (2014) and for a horse to go another eight years after some serious miles like that, well, it just proves what a warrior he is.”

Lyons Johnny is a 14-year-old gelded son of Mach Three owned and trained by Brandy Wine. This win was his 58th lifetime in 301 career starts, with a bankroll of $476,097. He paid $5.20 to his faithful.

The scorecard after this opening night showed Team Hennessey leading Team Gingras 63-44 with the four race conclusion on Wednesday night. Hennessey was the leading in points this night with 31, while Gingras had 19, Miller had 17 and Dunn was next with 16. Kevin Wallis rounded out the top five with 10.

Wednesday night’s card also features a $15,000 guaranteed pool with that industry low 12 percent takeout and a Super Hi-5 carryover of $66,286. Post time is set for 7:20 p.m.