by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Pompano Park presented a pair of Open events for mares on Monday night (Jan. 19) with Pure Barre extending her winning skein to three for Mickey McNichol in the trot and Pertty Music returning to her winning ways for Ed Hensley in the pace.

Pure Barre extended her winning streak to three with a 1:54.4 triumph in the Open Trot for Mares.

Pure Barre, Tom Gonsalves’ outstanding 7-year-old daughter of Classic Photo, overcame the outside seven post and a pair of stout challenges during the mile to score what turned out to be a handy victory in 1:54.4 on the coolish night (68 degrees), pinning a 3-1/2 length defeat on Saint Patty’s Doll, with Bruce Ranger in the bike. Black Swan, handled by Dan Clements, finished third while Reverie Devictoire and M T Ur Pockets picked up the minor awards.

As the gate opened, McNichol sent Pure Barre winging and out-rushed Saint Patty’s Doll to the opening marker timed in :27. Unlike last week, when Pure Barre saw only one minimal threat develop around the final bend, much earlier threats developed this time around as Trot Fudge Sundae (Dave Ingraham) rushed up along side the leader halfway through the mile clocked in :56.4.

As Trot Fudge Sundae’s bid disappeared on the backside, M T Ur Pockets (Ed Hensley) went on a double-bubble binge to reach the saddle pad of Pure Barre at the third station, clocked in 1:25.2.

In the lane, Pure Barre put away that challenge and easily pulled away from Saint Patty’s Doll for the handy win, one tick faster than last week’s triumph.

In a post race interview — if one can call it that — driver Mickey McNichol said, “It was a nice trip!”

The victory kept Pure Barre’s record perfect this year — two-for-two — and sent her lifetime bounty to $226,645 on the strength of her 22nd lifetime win. As the 3-5 favorite, Pure Barre paid $3.20 to her faithful.

Skip Smith photos

Pertty Music returned to her winning ways in the Open Pace for Mares at Pompano Park on Monday night, covering the mile in 1:52.

Pertty Music got a picture perfect journey from owner-trainer Ed Hensley to score a resounding victory measuring just over five lengths in 1:52 — this after sitting cozily in the pocket and letting McFlirty and Ricky Macomber Jr. cut all the fractions — :27, :55.4 and 1:24.

The late charging De Vins Girl, driven by Rick Plano, rallied from far back to finish second while McFlirty held on for third. Wind River Cat finished fourth in the mile while Mach Me Not picked up the nickel in the field of nine.

Just A Bee, coming into the action on a four race winning streak, could not overcome the handicap of the outside nine post and finished off the board this night.

After the race, driver Ed Hensley said, “She has been racing good over the past month but this is a very talented group of mares in the Open here and it is very tough to win week after week. Tonight, we had the luck of the draw on our side, so when the gate opened, my mare just kind of followed it out and we were lucky to get a garden trip when Ricky’s (Macomber) mare (McFlirty) took the top spot. When I asked her turning for home, she just exploded with pace. She was very sharp tonight.”

Pertty Music, a 5-year-old daughter of Jereme’s Jet, now has 15 lifetime wins in 65 career starts, good for $221,522. As the even money favorite on the tote board, Pertty Music paid $4.20 to win.

Finally, with the 3-5 favorite Senorita Santanna scoring a resounding 1:52.1 victory in the night’s finale, there were several winning consolation tickets worth $174.18 for a 20 cent investment in the Super Hi-5 event, meaning the carryover to the Tuesday night program for that event is close to $60,000, again a track record. Post time for the Tuesday night card is 7:30 p.m.