by John Berry, for Pompano Park
Pompano Beach, FL — Diamond Dagger and Prairie Fortune were victorious in the respective co-featured trotting events on Wednesday night (Dec. 20) at Pompano Park, but Skyway Pippen turned in the fastest performance on the mid-week extravaganza.
Diamond Dagger, the splendid 5-year-old daughter of ABC Garland, had her hooves full throughout her journey and won by a scant nose in 1:55 over a tough and determined Vicki All, handled by J. D. Yoder. Skyway Priss, with John MacDonald in her sulky, finished third while Modern Mercury and She’s All In picked up the minor awards in the classy sextet.
Skip Smith photo
Diamond Dagger, handled by Peter Wrenn, won a narrow decision in Pompano Park’s trotting feature for mares on Wednesday night.
At the outset, there was a scramble for early supremacy as She’s All In and Vicki All got in a heated war with the former taking charge at the :27.2 opener before yielding to the latter shortly thereafter.
Three-eighths into the mile, Diamond Dagger, away last and some eight lengths in arrears, began her grind forward and when Vicki All reached the halfway point in :57.1, Diamond Dagger was third, quickly moved alongside She’s All In and then on the backside, gnawed her way to a short lead over Vicki All past the third station in 1:26.
These two raced as a team down the lane with Vicki All actually doing a gnawing herself in the final yards to necessitate the photo.
After the race, driver Peter Wrenn remarked, “Mark’s (O’Mara) mare can grind forward a long way. The air doesn’t bother her at all. Once we straightened away the first time, she kind of told me she wanted to go and that’s when we started going forward. She was very determined on the backside and wanted to get by J. D’s (Yoder) mare (Vicki All). We were both going all we could go late and, to tell you the truth, I thought I was beat at the wire. Both mares raced very game!”
Trained by Mark O’Mara, who co-owns with Paul Johnson and Melvin Schmucker, Diamond Dagger won for the 12th time in 36 starts this year, good for $82,510. She now has banked $228,682 lifetime to go along with her mark of 1:53.2 at Pompano Park earlier this year. Off at 1-5 on the toteboard, Diamond Dagger paid $2.60 to win.
Prairie Fortune, like Diamond Dagger, came from last early to garner his win — the 10th of his 2017 season — as this grand son of Arapa Victory stopped the timer in 1:55.1 for Jim Meittinis, his winning margin 1-3/4 lengths over the late-charging Katch Kanna, driven by Wally Hennessey. Sooo Handsome was third for Rick Plano while My Revenuer recovered from an early miscue to finish fourth. Uncle Hanover, prominent early, picked up the nickel in the field of nine.
There was a mad scramble early as Uncle Hanover went in search for the lead along with Pocket Trip — the latter double-bubbled at the opening marker in :27.3. Pocket Trip continued to lead through subsequent panels of :56.1 and 1:25.2 with pressure from Stemilt Touch on the outside while Uncle Hanover sat chilly in the pocket with Prairie Fortune second over and set for his devastating brush which carried him into the lead turning for home — his :29.2 closer easily sealing the deal.
Driver Jim Meittinis had high praise for his trotter saying, “We had no choice but to get away where we did and, once we got to the backside, he starting bringing me forward and getting ready for what he’s capable of doing. When I tipped him wide, he just swallowed them up. He was awesome tonight; just awesome.”
Trained by Mike Deters, who co-owns with Laurie Poulin, Prairie Fortune sent his 2017 bankroll to $80,745 and $285,290 lifetime. As the 2-1 favorite, Prairie Fortune returned $6.20 to win.
Though Diamond Dagger and Prairie Fortune won the “feature” events, it was Skyway Pippen, patiently handled by Joe Sanzeri, that trotted the fastest mile of the night — 1:54.4 — a new lifetime mark, by far.
The 6-year-old altered son of Swan For All, trained by Howard Klohr for the Delray Duo, stalked the pacesetting Prayer Session (Fern Paquet Jr.) through sizzling panels of :27.2, :55.4 and 1:24.1 before tilting out turning for home and streaking by for a 1-3/4 length decision. Holiday Spirit (Jim Hysell) was third in the mile followed by the favored Noble Anthony and Chipps Star in the field of nine.
Trainer Howard Klohr was surprised by his horse’s performance saying, “Wow! Now that was something! This business has plenty of surprises and tonight was a big one for me. I was kidding Sanzeri (driver Joe) about it and told him that we really don’t advocate speeding on the premises here; just amazing!”
Skyway Pippen won for the fifth time this year in 31 starts, sending his bounty to $25,128. His previous best winning performance was 1:56.1 over Pompano Park’s five-eighths-mile oval. As third choice in the betting, Skyway Pippen paid $12.00 to his faithful.
Racing continues on Saturday with a Pick-6 carryover awaiting along with a Super Hi-5 finale carryover of $18,029. Post time is set for 7:20 p.m.