by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Gold Star Gidget, craftily handled by Ricky Macomber, Jr., justified her 3-5 backing at the mutuel windows with a handy victory in the Mares Open Pace at Pompano Park on Monday night (Feb. 18).

Skip Smith photo

Gold Star Gidget, driven by Ricky Macomber, Jr., teamed up to win top honors in the Mares Open Pace at Pompano Park on Monday night.

The 4-year-old daughter of Rock On, trained by Richard Macomber for owners Kevin Kelly, Tim Rzepka and Carol Macomber, was a bit more aggressive this time around, taking the lead a few strides before the :27.1 opening quarter and then clocking mid-mile fractions of :57 and 1:25.4 before sealing the issue with a :28.3 finale and stopping the timer in 1:54.2.

The winning margin was 1-3/4 lengths over the late charging Looney Dune, driven by Jason Dillander. Bay Girl, handled by Rick Plano, pulled first over on the backstretch and got within a length of the winner around turn three, but wound up third while Molly Brown, driven by Bruce Ranger, finished fourth after being placed prominently forward throughout the mile.

The field was limited to four with the scratch of Abbey Road Hanover.

For Gold Star Gidget, it was her second success of the year in six starts, pushing her 2013 bounty to $15,415 and $102,933 lifetime. The consortium of owners purchased her from Tom Audley last November after Super Night and in 12 starts the mare has banked $27,015.

Gold Star Gidget has now won 12 races in 40 lifetime starts and this is only the second time in her career that she has led at every call.

After the race, Ricky Macomber, Jr. said, “This mare doesn’t leave all that well but she can grind forward a long way. In a short field like this, I didn’t want to take any chances of having someone else control the proceedings, so I kind of ‘half-left’ and grinded forward to the top. She was well within herself the entire mile.”

While Gold Star Gidget took top honors in the Open event for the ladies, it was Bombilla Hanover who lit up the timer with a splendid 1:52.3 mile in a conditioned-optional claiming event for mares.

This 5-year-old daughter of The Panderosa, owned by Lewis Whitaker along with Rick Berks and trainer Peter Blood, overcame a rough start before taking command right at the opening station in :27.3 and wiring panels of :56 and 1:24.1 before striding powerfully home for Bruce Ranger in :28.2 to score by 2-3/4 lengths over Mightymachthree (Pavia) and J K Geronimo (Wallis).

Yet another big mile was recorded by John Darrah’s Windows Online, trained and driven by Rick Plano. This 6-year-old daughter of Royal Mattjesty carved out all the numbers — :27.4, :56.1 and 1:24.2 — en route to a game win in 1:53 in a conditioned event for the mares. The late charging Fiesta Camcun, driven by Stephane Lareau, was just a nostril back with Quail and Island Terror next.

Windows Online now has banked $158,163 lifetime — $12,280 in seven starts this year.