by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Flyhawk El Durado, perfectly handled by driver Steve Condren, took top honors in Pompano Park’s $12,000 Open Trot on Wednesday night (April 8), completing his journey in 1:54.2 for his initial win of the season in four starts.

Skip Smith photo

Flyhawk El Durado took top honors in Pompano Park’s Open Trot on Wednesday night, covering the mile in 1:54.2.

The 4-year-old son of Conway Hall, trained by Dale Gilmour for owner Martin Scharf, made a sharp quarter (:29) move to the top and then proceeded to stitch together subsequent quarters of :28.2, :28.4 and :28.1 to score a handy win over R G Rocket and Dave Ingraham — the winning margin just short of two lengths. My Revenuer, with Tom Sells in the bike, rallied for third while the early leader, Highland Yankee, finished fourth. Increditable picked up the nickel in the quintet.

Indeed, it was Highland Yankee and Increditable battling for the early supremacy with Flyhawk El Durado away in good order third but on the move just a step or two shy of the opening panel. The winner was grinding through the rest of the journey, only having to deal with R G Rocket around the final bend before stretching the lead turning for home.

In a post race interview, driver Steve Condren related, “This trotter drives like an El Dorado automobile. I started him off in second gear then put him in overdrive around the first turn and then cruise control thereafter. You know, he gave a hint last week showing some good stout trot late, so I thought he’d be very good tonight and he didn’t disappoint.”

Achieving his first win of the year in four starts — and 13th win in only 28 lifetime starts — Flyhawk El Durado now has banked $621,352 career-wise to go along with a mark of 1:52.4 over the Vernon Downs seven-eighths-mile oval. As the overwhelming 1-5 favorite, Flyhawk El Durado paid $2.40 to his many followers.

While Flyhawk El Durado took the spotlight in the opener, it was driver Wally Hennessey who fulfilled the starring role the rest of the program while achieving a grand slam on the card.

Hall of Famer Hennessey took the third race with Willie’s Guitar in a lifetime best 1:53 for owner Liz Schaut — the driving assignment arranged as regular pilot Rick Schaut is busy recuperating from a training accident just days earlier.

Win number two for Wally was with Dale Gilmour’s classy trotter Adenium, scoring a gate-to-wire win in 1:55.4, a seasonal best for the 9-year-old.

About 20 minutes later, Hennessey guided the claiming pacer Terrys Star Dragon to a wire-to-wire score in 1:54.3 for owners Fred Morosini and Mike Deters.

The grand slam was achieved the very next race with the trotter Goldstar Classic, trained by brother Dan Hennessey for the consortium of Timothy Rzepka, Kevin Kelly, Joseph Connors and Vincent Giorlando. Goldstar Classic, a 5-year-old son of Classic Photo, took the lead out of the gate and put together fractions of :28, :57 and 1:26.2 before rolling home a handy winner in a lifetime best 1:55.3.