by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Panocchio, handled by Wally Hennessey, repelled the onslaught of No Bad Dreams (Dave Ingraham) and Sing For Me George (Kevin Wallis) to score a repeat win in Pompano Park’s top pace on Sunday night (Oct. 30), stopping the timer in 1:51.3.

Skip Smith photo

Panocchio teamed up with Wally Hennessey to score a repeat win in Pompano Park’s Open Pace on Sunday night.

The splendid 6-year-old son of No Pan Intended, owned by Emile Johnson Jr. along with trainer Jim Mattison, won by a neck with a repelling :27.3 finale for his eighth win of the year and 44th lifetime in 103 career starts. Though Panocchio holds the track record here at Pompano (1:48.3) and this win was nowhere near that clocking, it was his 23rd at the South Florida oval and was not an easy one.

At the outset, Panocchio, assigned the outside post in his sextet, was in a war with both Sing For Me George (post five) and Winyard Hanover (post one) for early supremacy with Panocchio only able to achieve the top spot from Sing For Me George after a rugged opener of :26.2 with Winyard Hanover next.

At this point, Here Comes William, Secretsoftheknight and No Bad Dreams were next early on with positions remaining that way through a half in :54.4.

Once they straightened away for their journey up the backside, No Bad Dreams began a serious sprint from the back of the pack about six lengths away and charged up alongside Panocchio around the final bend with that third station timed in 1:24.

With Sing For Me George locked and loaded turning for home, Wallis had to make a decision of whether to be patient and hope for a seam or swing widest of all and he chose the latter and this trio of pacers fanned across the track and began their sprint to the wire.

With an official final panel in :27.3, the photo finish camera had Panocchio’s nose on the line first prompting Hennessey to say, in a post race interview, “This was no cakewalk. I had no choice but to leave and get into the fray early. You just can’t spot horses like this six lengths at the start because then your horse has to be six lengths and a nose better the rest of the mile.

“He’s (Panocchio) just a gallant pacer that gives his all every start and even though we were roughed up a bit during the opening quarter, this horse just digs in when he’s asked.

“He beat some very good horses tonight. Sing For Me George is top flight here and No Bad Dreams went a huge trip and stayed straight right to the wire.

“I’ve said this before, Jimmy (trainer Mattison) and his wife (Vicki) do just an outstanding job with their horses and their performance on the racetrack speaks volumes for their hard work.”

For Panocchio, the win pushed his 2016 scorecard to 8-7-2 in 21 starts, good for $83,161 and $373,928 lifetime. As the 3-5 favorite, Panocchio paid $3.20 to win.

Also starring on the Sunday night card was John MacDonald, who hit a grand slam while scoring with Beach Blast ($2.80), Layer Cake ($4.00), Shootin Time ($3.00) and Hurricane Howard ($3.00).

Racing continues on Tuesday night with a Super Hi-5 carryover ballooning to $3,201 awaiting. Post time is scheduled for 7:20 p.m.