from harness publicists across North America

Saturday’s (December 15) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Pompano Park, Yonkers Raceway and Saratoga Casino and Raceway.

Amillionpennies captures Pompano’s Open Pace

Pompano Beach, FL — Amillionpennies took top honors in Pompano Park’s $10,500 Open 1 Pace on Saturday night.

Skip Smith photo

Amillionpennies (Matt Romano) captured Pompano Park’s Open Pace on Sat. NIght in 1:51.

The 7-year-old gelded son of Million Dollar Cam took command just a step or two out of the gate and went on to wire the field in 1:51 off of evenly rated panels of :27.2, :55.3 and 1:23.2.

Driver-Trainer Matt Romano handled the pacer for C&F Associates of Hillsdale, N.J.

Special Strides, driven by Rick Plano, rallied to be second, three parts of a length away, while Keemosabe, with Bruce Ranger in the bike, finished third. Longshot Freeneasy Hanover (Dillander) was fourth while the 11-10 favorite, Northern Companion, finished fifth and not able to sufficiently dent the winner’s final half of :55.2.

“He had a good tightener last week,” driver Matt Romano said, “and he does have nice gate speed so I decided to send him. He felt very comfortable the entire mile and I expect him to get even a bit tighter with this race under his belt.

“Bruce’s horse (Keemosabe) seemed a bit anxious behind me on the backside so I let my horse out a notch and he responded like a good horse should.”

For Amillionpennies, it was win number seven in 29 starts this year and lifetime win number 34. He’s banked $467,755 during his career–$88,390 of that in 2012.

— John Berry

Yonkers Raceway
Tobago Cays (Jim Pantaleano) prevailed in blanket photo Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway’s featured $28,000 winner-over pace. Tobago Cays earned the nod, winning by a scant nose over Something For Doc in 1:52.4. Something For Doc edged A Sweet Ride for second, with Noble Falcon and Eighteen (George Brennan) rounding out the payees. For Tobago Cays, a 5-year-old son of Rocknroll Hanover, owned by Brian Nixon and trained by Ross Croghan, he returned $21 (third choice) for his ninth win in 39 seasonal starts.

Saratoga Casino and Raceway
Annieswesterncard (Western Hanover) won in his first try at the local Open pace at Saratoga on Saturday night. Ron Burke brought a host of horses to the track on closing night at the Spa and thrived, winning four times, including the victory in the $21,000 feature with Annieswesterncard. Though the 6-year-old pacer had been winless on the season, he had hit the board in 11 of 16 tries in 2012 en route to over $111,000 in earnings before his local debut. Ricky Macomber Jr sat behind the Burke trainee and circled the field before stopping the timer in 1:53. Pan From Nantucket (Bruce Aldrich Jr) came on for second while Silent Swing (Billy Dobson) held third. Burke recorded a grand slam on the final race card of the year at Saratoga while leading reinsman Billy Dobson put the finishing touches on another driving championship with a five win evening.