by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Canadian Touch, driven by George Napolitano, Jr., easily wired his competition on Saturday night (Jan 17) at Pompano Park, taking the $12,000 feature for $20,000-$25,000 claimers in 1:50.2.

Skip Smith photo

Canadian Touch, with George Napolitano, Jr. in the sulky, took top honors in Pompano Park’s feature event on Saturday night, stopping the timer in 1:50.2

In winning for the fifth time in his last six starts, the 6-year-old son of Camotion equaled his lifetime best performance–first established on December 27 of last year and duplicated one week later on January 3.

Owned by Susan Oakes and trained by Chris Oakes after being claimed just one week ago, Canadian Touch began paying dividends immediately off of front-end panels of :26.4, :55.3 and 1:23 before pulling away from a stubborn Johnny Grippa, handled by Joe Sanzeri, by 2-3/4 lengths at the wire.

Always In The Money, with Peter Wrenn in the bike, finished third while Ahead Of The Curve finished fourth. No Monkeys Allowed picked up the nickel in the sextet.

After the event, driver George Napolitano, Jr. said, “It’s great to be back in the warmth of South Florida and it’s great to be able to handle a pacer like this one. He impressed me tonight by going a hot opener (26.4) and then under :55 home (:54.4.). That’s pacing some!”

Canadian Touch earned his 27th lifetime win to send his career bounty to $115,604–$14,250 already in just three starts this year after earning $60,185 last year–his best ever.

Showing 1-5 on the tote-board, Canadian Touch paid $2.60 to win.

Pompano Park also hosted two divisions of the Late Closer for the Florida Amateur Driving Club trot with South Jersey Hey and Explosive Muscles winning their respective divisions.

South Jersey Hey, owned by Oldford Racing LLC, was driven to victory by trainer Steve Oldford and came from well back in the field to score an explosive win measuring 4-1/4 lengths over American Empress with Jamie Marra handling the lines. Pacific Cyclone, with Jeff Schaefer in the bike, finished third while Royalty On High and Whosover earned the final two checks in the field of seven.

The winner paid $4.40 to his faithful.

Speaking of “explosive,” Explosive Muscles, given a picture perfect drive by Ted Bowman, scored a handy win measuring 1-3/4 lengths over pacesetting Prairie Big John, with Dennis Whittemore driving, in 1:58.3. L F Topaz and Billy Muggleston teamed up to be third while Jam and Jelly finished fourth. Marion Good To Go picked up the minors.

Bowman sent Explosive Muscles out sharply to gain the top spot early before yielding to Prairie Big John and letting that one carve all of the panels before tilting out turning for home and rolling on by.

Trained by veteran Veral Bowman, Explosive Muscles paid $3.60 to win.

Another highlight on the Saturday program were the appearances of authors Victoria Howard and Billy Haughton, Jr. for a book signing for their recently published book about Roosevelt Raceway.

An enthusiastic crowd greeted the authors along with legendary driver Lucien Fontaine with a near sell out of book inventory. The book has shot up to number three on the best seller list at Amazon.com.

Carry-overs highlight the Sunday night program with carryovers in the Pick-5 and the Super High-5–the latter carryover now well over $45,000.

Post time is 7:30 p.m. for the Sunday program.