by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, Florida…Friday, April 7, 2006…Veteran driver John Kakaley, 45, who has won over 1,200 races during his successful career, and his 18 year-old son Matt, who won his very first race earlier in the week, grabbed the spotlight in the early daily double at Pompano Park on Friday night.

After John took the opener with the three year-old pacing filly Iamasurvivor in 1:58, son Matt “bowled” over the competition in the second half of the double by guiding R Starkist Mermaid to a trotting victory in 2:03.

For Iamasurvivor, a daughter of Northern Luck owned by Steven Sitkoff of White Plains , N.Y. and trained by Robert Lasky, it was her maiden victory in but six lifetime trips postward with her margin of victory over Sesame Bagel a length and a half. Prisoner Of Hope finished third in the mile.

R Starkist Mermaid, an eight year-old daughter of Esquire Spur, earned her first victory of the year for lessee Harry Dasen of Bode, IA., by using a startling burst of speed in the final yards to nail the favorite, E B Joe, with Gary Barbere in the bike, near the wire.

The Kakaley-Kakaley “father-son” daily double paid $38.20.

The $9,000 Handicap for mares went–in an upset–to Chip And Gale A, who dawdled near the back of the pack for the first half mile before moving into contention on the backstretch and sweeping to the lead a sixteenth out to score by two lengths in 1:55.1.

Daryl Bier was in the sulky for owner Vincent Ali of Manalapan , N.J.

Chip And Gale A, a nine year-old daughter of Caesar Blue Chip, let Turn It On, driven by Wally Hennessey, take the field to an opening quarter in :27.2. Thereafter, it was the favorite, Hypnotize, with Dave Ingraham in the bike, who clocked subsequent fractions of :57.1 and 1:26.1.

Turning for home, Chip And Gale A collared the leader and then easily held off Dunlear Court (Bruce Ranger). The late surging Albertina, making her first start of the year after a three and a half month layoff, finished third for Glenn Berger.

The winner, off at 9 to 1 on the toteboard, returned $20.60, $15.00 and $4.40 across the board, keying a $1,689.60 trifecta payoff.

In other Pompano action, Ex Libris Hanover, a six year-old daughter of Life Sign owned by Joel Wheeler of Pepperell, MA, took top honors in the $6,500 co-feature for mares by scoring a handy win for Dave Ingraham in 1:56–her winning margin a length and a quarter over Kadijah (Daryl Bier) with ICU N (Kevin Wallis) third in the mile.

Trained by Kelly Case, Ex Libris Hanover earned her second victory of the year in 13 starts and sent her lifetime bounty to $158,123.

The sharp looking three year-old filly Zeglarska Street , handled by Kevin Wallis, wired a good field of fillies and mares in a $5,000 for fillies and mares in 1:55.3.

The daughter of Twin B Champ, owned by the Cuzzins Stable of Delray Beach and trained by Linda Wallis, clocked all of the numbers–:27.4, :58.1 and 1:27 before sprinting home in :28.3 to seal the deal.

The pocket sitting SF Empire was second with Four Starz Swell up for third.

Zeglarska Street , who took a 1:55 mark at two, is a perfect two-for-two this year, her other victory achieved last week in a lifetime best 1:54.