by Frank Salive, publicity director, Isle Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — The tenacious pursuit of pacing mare Witch Trials has turned out to be better than expected for real estate attorney and avid harness horse owner Paul Mandel of Parkland, Fla.

“I’ve owned over three dozen horses while dabbling in the game over the past 17 years or so,” Mandel says. “Witch Trials has been a special case though. Over the past two years I’ve owned her at least five different times. It was a wild scramble up at Yonkers to end up with her when we decided it was her we wanted for Pompano for the 2010-2011 season. She’s really proven to be worth the trouble.”

Lap Time Photo – Skip Smith

Witch Trials took a life’s mark of 1:52.2 last Friday evening at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano and defeated track record holder Esmeralda Semalu.

On the Nov. 26 program at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park, Witch Trials prevailed for a second consecutive week in the featured $12,000 event for the top mares. That win really caught the attention of her owner.

“In the past few months before we brought her to Florida she was claimed in I think eight straight starts at Yonkers and she was beating the $20,000 claiming company” Mandel says. “Last Friday night she took a life’s mark of 1:52.2 and she defeated the track record holder, Esmeralda Semalu. When they crossed under the wire I said to anyone within earshot that this mare is the best $20,000 I’ve ever spent.

“We wondered how she’d handle the change from the half-mile track to Pompano’s five-eighths. She’s handy off the gate and Dan Clements has put her in just the right spots. I guess we have our answer now on how she’d handle the track size change.”

The next paycheck for Witch Trials will bring her 2010 earnings to more than $100,000, almost a third of her life’s bankroll of $313,478.

The last weekend of November was one that Mandel and his associates won’t soon forget. A stablemate to Witch Trials, C A Marauder, won a photo finish on Saturday night to give them a sweep of the track’s top pair of weekend events.

“C A Marauder is a horse I understand came from humble beginnings and his yearling price in Prince Edward Island was very modest. I’ve heard reports it was $2,500,” Mandel explained. “Well he sure has turned out to be a terrific horse for us. I frequently visit them in the barn and he’s the real likeable character, whereas Witch Trials can be territorial and at times, act like a bit of a witch. So they’re a good blend of horses to have together. If anything he’s a real good influence on her.”

The wild claiming action on the 6-year-old daughter of Artiscape-Witchcraft saw her in the care of trainer Jacob Hartline for six different stints in 2010. She started the year at Saratoga in the Robyn Mangiardi barn and along the way she had single starts for trainers Erv Miller and Lou Pena. Mandel, along with his friend and associate Michael Kabnick of the Exit 67 Racing Stable of Boynton Beach, Fla., employed trainer Rob Harmon at Yonkers before placing their stable into the care of Eric Beach for the 2010-2011 campaign in South Florida.

“The way she was being claimed each week was like a game of ring around the rosy and in this case we got the horse we wanted…then we ran like hell to get her away from the threat of losing her again,” Mandel added with a laugh.