by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Rockn Stien made his fall debut at Pompano Park a winning one by wiring a classy group of Open trotters for driver Peter Wrenn on Wednesday (Nov. 22).

The 5-year-old gelded son of Valley Victor, trained by Melanie Wren for Wrenn Racing and the M T Pockets Stables, pushed the wings of the Hummer Starting Gate out of the way at the start and proceeded through panels of :28, :57.4 and 1:25.2 before a :29.1 finale held off the late charging Boli, driven by Wally Hennessey, by 1-1/4 lengths. Prairie Fortune, driven by Jim Meittinis, finished third, two lengths away while Railee Workable and My Revenuer earned the minor awards in the classy septet.

Skip Smith photo

Rockn Stien took top honors in Pompano Park’s trotting feature on Thanksgiving eve.

Rockn Stien, who has a 1:53.1 mark set earlier this year over South Florida’s five-eighths-mile oval, had been making appearances at several mid-western tracks throughout the summer and early fall before traveling south to tackle the best here.

At the outset, Rockn Stien, leaving from post six, and Boli, one notch farther out, got in a heated battle with Rockn Stien refusing to yield, making Boli take a seat in the garden spot with Railee Workable, My Revenuer, Born To Thrive and Prairie Fortune next — the only distant trailer being Sooo Handsome, who made a miscue leaving.

Halfway through the mile, Born To Thrive was the first to pull with Prairie Fortune following second over and inching forward as well. Around the final bend with Born To Thrive at the throat of Rockn Stien, the former went up in the air leaving Boli some room to roam and Prairie Fortune widest of all. But Rockn Stien was in no danger in the final yards and went on to a comfortable victory — his eighth of the year in 26 starts.

After the race, driven Peter Wrenn, rapidly approaching 10,000 career wins, said, “I had no other choice but to leave out of there with him since I didn’t think it was a good idea to spot Wally’s horse (Boli) or Prairie Fortune too many lengths.

“We are pretty equally matched here, so if I didn’t take the opportunity to leave in a field that seemed to have a lot of closers, I’d be spotting them six-seven lengths — and “Rock” is not that much better than those. He grabbed the bit early and was eager to go tonight and I didn’t want to stifle him in any way.

“On the backside, we got some pressure from Johnny Mac (MacDonald) but things got a lot better for me when his horse broke. He went a great mile after being off a week.”

Rockn Stien has earned $68,880 this semester and $214,745 on the strength of a 17-15-8 scorecard in 68 career starts. As the slight 9-5 favorite, Rockn Stien paid $5.80 to win.

Racing continues on Sunday night with Pompano Park hosting Super Night featuring the top 2- and 3-year-old Florida-breds shooting for a share of more than $420,000 in purses. The 16-race card features five non-wagering events beginning at 6:30 p.m. with the 11-race pari-mutuel program beginning at 7:20 p.m. The Sunday night card also features a Super Hi-5 carryover of $21,578.