by Frank Salive, publicity director, Isle Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Being atop the drivers’ standings has never mattered to Gaston Lareau, but just the same he was relieved to get the 1,000 lifetime win milestone out of the way.

Lap Time Photo — Skip Smith

Gaston Lareau notched the 1,000th lifetime winning drive of his career in the first race on Monday.

Perhaps reflecting a common occurence in his career, he reached the four digit career win total in the first race of the Monday (Feb. 21) program with a pocket trip longshot score at 22-1. Lareau was teaming 4-year-old Wewering-Walhalla trotting mare Pretty Girl for owner-breeders Sandra and Richard Dunmire of Fort Myers, Fla., and trainer Kim Sears.

“This was quite a while coming and I’m glad to get it out of the way,” Lareau said in his post race trackside live TV interview. “Being at the top of the catch drivers’ list has never been most important to me. I’d like to think I’m a bit of an old fashioned horseman that puts the horse and its well being first. I hope when people think of me they see they can trust me to do the best for the horse and that I’ll bring them back a horse for the next week. I’d like to think I have a good way with 2-year-olds and young horses, too.”

Although at age 49 his win total in the bike is far from overwhelming, you have to see Lareau often to completely understand his approach and value to the industry. In particular at Pompano, there are few drivers more patient that consistently put double and triple digit odds longshots into exacta and trifecta tickets like Gaston Lareau does. His career purse earnings in the bike stand at more than $4.4 million. On the training side, the man hailing from Longueiul, Quebec, known on the Pompano backstretch as “Gas,” has sent out 322 winners for more than $1.4 million.

“I would say the biggest career influences on me back in Quebec were my dad and Gilles Gendron,” Lareau adds. “I really enjoyed working and racing alongside Gendron, he is one of the best ever to come out of Quebec in my opinion and he’s still going strong at 66 years old. Last year he went past 7,000 lifetime winning drives and he is a master at how to rate a horse.

“Very seldom will you see me down to drive horses meant for the front end. I get a lot of longshots and I really enjoy bringing them from off the pace.

“It’s quite a year for milestones for me with making it 25 years of racing at Pompano, reaching 1,000 lifetime driving wins and I turn 50 years old on the May 24 weekend. I’m very happy to be making a living this way and I hope I can keep doing so with my patient way of doing things for many more decades, too.”

New lighting looks great

Viewers of the Pompano program trackside and at remote locations may have noticed a change when the field came out for the first race post parade for the Monday program. A substantial capital expenditure has been completed with an upgrade of the track lighting to the latest technology.

“Wow, it’s really a huge improvement and I’ve had a lot of great comments about it here trackside, too,” says trackside handicapper and assistant race secretary Steve Carpenito. “I’m certainly no expert about candle power and light meters but the track lighting, and especially the stretch drive, is much, much brighter. This lighting is certainly the equal of the best at any track I’ve seen in my travels.”

Yet another new wrinkle this week is a purse increase from $14,000 to $15,500 for the top trot on the Wednesday (Feb. 23) program since the race has attracted a 10 horse field for the first time this meet.

Post time is 7:05 p.m. (EST) every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday at The Winter Capital of Harness Racing. Free race night streaming and replays are available in the ‘racing’ tab at www.theislepompanopark.com.