by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Count Speed, off at 4-1 and deftly handled by Wally Hennessey, pinned a half-length defeat on the 1-10 favorite Increditable, driven by Kevin Wallis, in Pompano Park’s $10,000 Open Handicap Trot on Wednesday night (April 29) in a mile clocked in 1:55.

Jailhouse Jessica, with Bruce Ranger in the bike, finished third while the only other starter, Ramzan, pulled up halfway through the mile and did not finish.

Skip Smith photo

Count Speed pulled off a minor upset in Pompano Park’s top trot on Wednesday night, stopping the timer in 1:55.

Count Speed, a 6-year-old gelding by Majestic Son, began from post three and out-maneuvered Increditable, leaving from post four as the Hummer sprung its wings and took the field to an opener timed in :27.4. At that point, Wallis pulled on Increditable’s right line but Hennessey thwarted the idea of the favorite moving to the top and they had to settle back behind the leader.

Hennessey kept his charge on the lead through a perfectly rated half of :57.3 and on the backside let Count Speed change gears, keeping Increditable 1-1/2 lengths away and Jailhouse Jessica 2-1/2 lengths back through the there-quarters in 1:26.

In the lane, Increditable tried yet another rally and got within a half-length of Count Speed, but no closer, as a :29 finale sealed the victory, his third in a row and 22nd lifetime.

In a post-race interview, driver Wally Hennessey related, “The difference in this race was a few days ago at the draw. When we drew a spot inside of Increditable, I thought that if I was on the front end, I could kind of control what was going on. We timed the gate just right and had things our way. He got a good rated half and he trotted a bit faster the second half than the opening half. Let’s not take anything away from Increditable — he’s really sharp now, too — but as I said the draw made all the difference tonight.”

Trained by Dan Hennessey for owners Paul and Patricia O’Neil, Count Speed sent his seasonal earnings to $12,220 in five starts and $210,620 lifetime. As second choice on the toteboard, Count Speed paid $10.80 to win in picking up the major portion of the $10,000 pie.

Owners Paul and Patricia O’Neil got a second helping of pie as their 4-year-old Verdi took top honors in the $8,000 conditioned trot, again for Wally Hennessey. This altered son of Kadabra conquered his seven rivals from the eight post, keeping his “unofficial” record for 2015 unblemished at seven. Officially, though, he’s six-for-seven as his only blemish was the result of a disqualification five starts ago.

Hennessey had Verdi away alertly from his outside post and settled into fifth early as Dream Lake (Matt Romano) and Mc Tiny’s Hope (Ben McNeil) played tag through opening panels of :27.1 and :56.4. Heading to the half, Hennessey guided Verdi outside and began grinding towards the leaders, reaching the top spot at the third station in 1:25.2 and coasting home from there in a lifetime best 1:55.1 performance — his winning margin 4-1/4 lengths over the late surging Gold Savage (Dave Ingraham) with On The Tab (Bruce Ranger) third. My Revenuer rallied to finish fourth while Dream Lake held on for the nickel.

Verdi now has career earnings of $124,429 — $19,830 this semester — with his faithful rewarded with a $5.20 mutuel.

Also on the card, Sky Crest, making his first start since November 2013, was an upset winner (14-1) in a conditioned trot for Kevin Wallis, ironically pinning a one length defeat on a 1-10 chance handled by Hennessey, Swan Yankee.

Trained by Clarence Patterson for the Apollo Racing Stables, Sky Crest, a 5-year-old son of Crest, stalked Swan Yankee through fractions of :27.3, :57.4 and 1:26.4 before wearing the latter down in the final stages and stopping the timer in 1:56.1, annihilating his former mark of 2:00.4. He paid $30.60 to win.

It was also the first training win for Patterson since June 2013, when Wallis guided Points West to victory in 1:54 over a group that included Doo Wop Hanover.

Pompano Park’s Pick-4, with a $25,000 guarantee on Wednesday night, featured the aforementioned Verdi and Sky Crest taking the first two legs with Maid Of Silver (Matt Romano) taking the third leg returning $46.40 and Illusionsndreams (Andy Santeramo) sewing things up with a $40.00 mutuel in the Pick-4 finale — the 8-2-6-8 combination returning $28,009.45 for a 50 cent investment.

The Super Hi-5 had multiple 20 cent winners on the 2-4-1-3-5 combo, sending the carryover to Saturday’s program vaulting over the $180,000 mark. Post time for Saturday’s card is 8 p.m.