by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — The first game of baseball’s World Series was held on Tuesday night (Oct. 25) but it was Hall of Fame driver Wally Hennessey who hit the grand slam at Pompano Park with four winners.

One of the wins was with the grand mare Godiva Seelster as this now 6-year-old daughter of Camluck recorded her third straight win in Open competition for mares since arriving at South Florida’s Winter Capital of Harness Racing.

Skip Smith photo

Godiva Seelster remained undefeated at Pompano Park this fall season as she scored her third straight win for Wally Hennessey.

Godiva Seelster led for every long stride of her mile and scored a handy win measuring 3-1/4 lengths over South Wind Trini (Brad Kramer) in 1:52.3, sealing the issue with a :27.2 finale off of panels of :28, :56.3 and 1:25.1. De Valeria (Aaron Byron), recovering from a brief miscue at the start, was third while Safe From Terror and Asset Management completed the quintet.

The win was the ninth this semester for Godiva Seelster in 22 starts — 34th lifetime — and sent her seasonal bounty to $90,558 and $310,275 career-wise.

Trained by Dan Hennessey for owners Paul and Patricia O’Neil, Godiva Seelster now has missed only one check in her last 94 starts over the past four seasons, prompting Hennessey to say after the event, “You know, she may have been 1-5 on the toteboard but you cannot take anything for granted in this game. She’s just a great mare that knows how to take care of herself — both in the barn and on the racetrack. She was very sharp again and you just cherish the moment as they can become very sparse on occasion.”

Godiva Seelster paid $2.60 to win.

In the Open Trot, the Florida bred Prairie Fortune, owned by Laurie Poulin along with trainer Mike Deters, second in his previous two outings since his South Florida arrival, got the job done on Tuesday night, grinding out a brave 1:55.1 win for John MacDonald.

The 4-year-old altered son of Arapa Victory came from 10 lengths out of it early on and trotted his final three-quarters in 1:24.4 to roll on by his foes in the lane to score by 1-3/4 lengths over She’s All In (Rick Plano) with Boli (Wally Hennessey) third after cutting the mustard from the outside post and clocking panels of :28.2, :57.2 and 1:26.1. McKenzie’s Star and Sailer Eddie picked up the minors in the octet.

After the event, driver John MacDonald related, “All this horse seems to do is draw outside but he can grind a long way and that’s what he did tonight — grind forward. I was lucky enough to follow some live cover the last lap and when I tilted him three wide, he responded. He was very sharp here.”

Prairie Fortune now has two dozen wins in 44 lifetime starts and sports a 22-9-7-2 scorecard this year, good for earnings of $69,965. He’s banked $183,245 during his career. Prairie Fortune returned $3.60 to his faithful as the 4-5 favorite.

Four FSBOA sponsored Sunshine State Stakes events, each worth $12,000, were held on Tuesday night as well and Gold Star Aurora, Prairie Panther and Diamond Lily won their non-wagering events and Conman’s Dream took top honors in the second half of the early Daily Double.

Gold Star Aurora was driven by red-hot Walter Ross Jr., sporting a UDR close to .500 this early fall season. Ross guided the 2-year-old daughter of Rock On to a hard earned 1:58.1 win in the Sunshine State Stake for juvenile pacing fillies. Tay Tay M (Wally Hennessey) and Prairie Cowgirl (John MacDonald) were next with the latter cutting through panels of :28.2, :58.3 and 1:29.1. PF Silver Classic was fourth while Golden Diamond earned the minor award in the quintet.

For Gold Star Aurora, it was her fourth win in five lifetime starts and she left the winner’s circle with a new lifetime mark for owner Marianne Audley and trainer Maggie Audley.

Prairie Panther, a gelded 2-year-old son of Royal Millennium driven by co-owner/trainer Mike Deters, took his Sunshine State Stake final in 1:57, using an explosive :28.2 finale to pin a 4-1/4 length defeat on Gold Star Bugsy (Wally Hennessey) with Maybe Ned (Bryce Fenn) next after leading through fractional times of :28.3, :58.3 and 1:28. Gold Star Spider and Kingwiththeaxe were four-five in the sextet.

Prairie Panther is co-owned by Laurie Poulin, prompting her to say in a post race interview, “Since Mike was in the bike back of the Panther, now you know that I own the half that hits the wire first. Seriously, since he came to Pompano, he hasn’t been beaten and we are all hopeful that things stay the same as we get closer to our Super Night in late November.”

Diamond Lily, a bridesmaid to Gold Star Mysti in her last trio of starts, led every step of her mile for Wally Hennessey in a 1:58 score off of fractions of :29.3, 1:00 and 1:30.2, capping her effort with a :27.3 that left Gold Star Lovebug (Joe Sanzeri) 4-1/4 lengths away. Caitlin’s Romance (Fenn) was next while Jaycie Jaycie finished fourth. Yule Love It picked up the final award as Gold Star Mysti, undefeated in Sunshine State Stakes action coming in, made a miscue at the start to finish sixth in her field of sophomore pacing fillies.

On the card, Conman’s Dream, driven by Corey Braden for owner-trainer Jason MacDougall, took his Sunshine State Stake division for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings, exploding in the lane to score a five length win over favored Gleneagles (Hennessey) with R Chism (Fern Paquet Jr.) third. ICU Diamond T was fourth while Danza picked up the nickel in the sextet.

Indeed, there was a war early on as Conman’s Dream and Gleneagles sought supremacy early with Conman’s Dream arriving at the initial quarter on the outside in a hot :27.1. Shortly thereafter, Gleneagles reclaimed the top spot and clocked mid-mile panels of :55.3 and 1:24.3 with R Chism on the attack and pulling on even terms with Gleneagles at that third station. That’s when Conman’s Dream, patiently biding his time on the inside, shifted widest of all and blew by the competition to earn his new lifetime mark of 1:54.4.

After the event, trainer Jason MacDougall said, “I have had this horse for two years now and he seemed to be chasing Gleneagles every single time they met. Didn’t matter whether he was cutting or chasing, he just didn’t want to beat that horse.

“I guess you could say that we don’t get along too well. We don’t see eye-to-eye, so I asked by good friend, Corey (Braden), to drive him. Last week, he was real good and just did get caught at the wire (by R Chism) but this week he was very sharp.

“Corey said he was stronger at the end of the mile than he was at the beginning. I am a very happy person right now!”

As 4-1 third choice, Conman’s Dream paid $10.40 to win.

Hennessey’s other wins came with Arthur Mergenhagen’s Seeking Steven ($5.80), trained by Dan Hennessey, in 1:56.1 and Amante Standardbreds’ Best Of Ribera ($25.60), trained by Marc Aubin.

Racing continues on Sunday night with three carryovers awaiting in the Pick-5, Pick-6 and Super Hi-5 finale. Post time is set for 7:20 p.m.