by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — If Tuesday night (Oct. 27) is any indication of what mid-season will be like at Pompano Park, this season will be a “doozie.” With the season just a few days old, there were highlights galore on this eighth racing night with Godiva Seelster and Owosso Flash in the equine spotlight with Mike Deters and Aaron Byron also earning well deserved accolades as well.

Kicking things off, four $12,000 finals of the FSBOA Sunshine State Stakes were contested — all non-wagering — with Owosso Flash, Gleneagles, Gold Star Dynasty and Prairie Sweetheart taking home the blankets in their respective divisions.

Skip Smith photo

After an epic battle, Owosso Flash (Mike Deters) earned this “ever-so-close” win in the Sunshine State Stakes at Pompano Park.

Owosso Flash, handled by trainer Mike Deters, and Caesar’s Forum (Wally Hennessey) put on a show for the ages with an epic battle lasting the final three-quarters of the mile with Owosso Flash up in the final stride to win by less than an inch in 1:54.3.

With Caesar’s Forum coming into the action on a three race win streak over Owosso Flash (each win wire-to-wire), Deters wasn’t about to let that happen again…at least not without a fight. At the outset, Caesar’s Forum used the rail to perfection, out-sprinting Owosso Flash through an opening panel in :28.4. Just a couple of strides prior to that tepid opener, Deters left the coziness of the pocket and the duel was on.

Through a :26.2 second quarter (:55.1) and a :54.3 middle half (1:23.2) and all the way to the wire, Owosso Flash and Caesar’s Forum fought. leaving all witnesses gasping for breath themselves. After the judges looked at the photo, blowing it up in the process, Owosso Flash had hit the wire first in 1:54.3. Drake (Bob Roberts) closed fastest of all to finish third, ahead of Stutz and Gold Star Roger.

After the event, driver Mike Deters said, “the only way that I was going to win was to take it to Caesar’s Forum early; after all, he wired me the previous three times and, when two horses are that close in talent, it’s tough to dent a :27 final quarter. Heck, Owosso Flash paced in :26.4 home last week and couldn’t get there, so I had to take the chance.”

It paid off.

The son of Royal Millennium, owned by Deters along with Laurie Lee Poulin, now has a 15-5-5-2 scorecard to go along with a Tioga mark of 1:52.3. He’s banked $25,007 this year and $78,557 lifetime with plenty of Florida stakes action ahead in November.

Owosso Flash’s full sister, Prairie Sweetheart, took top honors in her class for 2-year-old pacing fillies, making a sharp early move on Caitlin’s Romance (Mel Turcotte) to post fractions of :29.1, :58.4 and 1:27.1 before sprinting home in :28.3 to score a 5-1/4 length win over Caitlin’s Romance in 1:55.4, a new lifetime mark. Again, co-owner Mike Deters was in the bike on behalf of Laurie Poulin and John Spindler. Diamond Lily was next in the field while two “Gold Star’s — Lovebug and Mysti — also earned checks in the field of eight.

Prairie Sweetheart remains undefeated after four lifetime starts.

In the final for 3-year-old fillies, Gold Star Dynasty, a daughter of Six Of Diamonds, handily took top honors for Aaron Byron, wiring her foes in 1:56.4. Owned by Oldford Farms, Jarold Hawks and Wrenn Racing and trained by Mike Deters, Gold Star Dynasty extended her winning streak to three with the win measuring 1-1/2 lengths over Davita (Corey Braden). Two more Gold Star fillies — Sonata (Walter Ross Jr.) and Charming — finished next while Creamsicle earned the final award in the sextet.

Gleneagles won the Sunshine State Stake final for juvenile pacing colts and geldings, fashioning a :28 finale to score for Wally Hennessey in 1:55, a new lifetime mark. Owned by the Pinhook Stable and trained by Jim McDonald, this son of Mysticism scored by 2-1/4 lengths in extending his winning streak to three. Conman’s Dream finished second for Jason MacDougall while R Chism (Mike Micallef) was next. Danza and ICU Diamond T picked up the minors in the field of six.

The mares Open was expected to be a slugfest between Godiva Seelster and Just A Bee and it was!

With these two exceptional mares assigned the outside posts — Just A Bee the six and Godiva Seelster the seven — both were forced to abandon their usual early foot tactics when Artful Impulse and Winbak Heavenly both left the gate with alacrity, with the latter taking command early and posting panels of :26.2, :55.1 and 1:23.

While both Just A Bee and Godiva Seelster did show some gate speed, they didn’t get into the early fray but, rather, settled into third and fourth, respectively, in the early going.

On the backside, Just A Bee went first up with Godiva Seelster following her live cover. Turning for home, Just A Bee had ground her way to the front with Godiva Seelster outside of her and gaining. At the wire, the two could barely be separated, literally a lip being the difference in Godiva Seelster winning in 1:51.2. Im Gracie’s Wigwam finished third, followed by Artful Impulse and Jets Are On in the field of seven.

In a post race interview, driver Wally Hennessey said, “Well, I’ve been in two epic battles tonight — lost one and won one! That’s racing. This is, as I’ve said before, a mare that does this all on her own. She has determination…and she was determined tonight.”

Owned by Paul and Patricia O’Neil and trained by Dan Hennessey, Godiva Seelster won for the 13th time this year, good for $103,375. The performance also kept her streak alive — 70 consecutive races getting a piece of the purse stretching back to the beginning of the 2013 season. Godiva Seelster was favored on the toteboard at 4-5 and paid $3.80 to win.

Driver Aaron Byron scored a grand slam on Tuesday night, not only scoring with Gold Star Dynasty in the Sunshine State Stakes final, but also reaching the winner’s circle with Richard Silverman’s 3-year-old trotter Janet ($8.40) in 1:57, Shane Arsenault’s Ton Of Luck ($3.40) in 1:54 and Big Valley Speed ($5.00) in 1:57.1 — the latter owned by Lawrence Barnett, John Spindler, Fred Morosini and trainer Mike Deters.

Deters wound up with a training grand slam of his own and sports an early UTR of well over .550. Also of note, while it seems difficult to improve on a UDR rating of .879, Deters did that, too, scoring two more wins for a scorecard of 13-10-3-0 — around .900!

Racing continues on Sunday night with the best trotters and pacers on the grounds expected to compete in their respective Open events. Post time is 7:30 p.m.