by John Berry for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Millionaire pacer Hyperion Hanover and driver Stephane Lareau were the stars under the stars on Saturday night as Pompano Park participated in Back To The Track Night with bingo, starting gate rides, guest announcers and awards ceremonies.

Skip Smith photo

Bruce Ranger and Jim McDonald were honored as the leading driver and trainer, respectively, on Back To The Track Night at Pompano Park.

An enthusiast crowd witnessed as Hyperion Hanover, the 10-year-old son of Camluck, dominated his foes in the featured winners over pace for the fourth time in his past five races, scoring a handy win for Stephane Lareau in a well rated win in 1:54 over the late charging Hillybilly, handled by Bruce Ranger. Avantage and Tom Sells teamed up for the show.

Hyperion, leaving from post four, grabbed the racetrack in the very first stride after the wings opened and took the field to an opening quarter in a somewhat leisurely :27.4.

With no challengers in immediate pursuit, Lareau “grabbed a hold” and reached the half in :57.2.

The pace picked up thereafter with a :28.4 third panel and was the deal was sealed with a :27.4 closer.

Not even Hillybilly’s :27 final quarter could threaten the winner, that scored by a length and a half for his 46th lifetime win pushing his career bounty to $1,139,121.

After the event, Lareau said, “this horse is 10-years-old, yes, but he races like a 3-year-old. After I got to the quarter and nobody was making a quarter move, I grabbed a hold of him and got a nice second quarter breather. I was very confident after the half, especially with a horse of this high caliber.”

Hyperion Hanover is owned by the S S G Stables and trained by Jim McDonald who, just minutes earlier was honored in Pompano Park’s winner’s circle as the leading trainer of the 2012-2013 meeting.

Also honored was the track’s leading driver for the season, Bruce Ranger, who outdistanced his rivals for the season winning at a 24% clip.

Both McDonald and Ranger had multiple winners on the card to celebrate their accomplishment–Ranger driving with Ken Freeman’s and Dave Mogan’s Wingull to an upset victory in the opener as well as Marissa Tyler’s Young American in the feature for the mares. Frank Petrelli trains Young American, who came from almost 10 lengths out of it to score in 1:55.

While McDonald and Ranger were basking in their accomplishments, it was Stephane Lareau who was the driving star of the night, winning four races. Besides the aforementioned Hyperion Hanover, Lareau hit the charmed circle with Diamond Master, the free-legged pacing mare Tashia and Competition Cam.

Bingo got an enthusiastic response and it took six races to get the first two winners with the final three winners coming in the very next race. Each winner received $100.

Racing Director John Yinger said, “Bingo was very popular with our fans and the USTA designed this so perfectly that we were able to retain our fans throughout much of the program.”

The fans were also treated to the way races were started up until the mobile starting revolutionized the sport back in 1946.

Rides in the starting gate were a highlight during the night but starter Adam Brownlee turned the clock back before the start of the fifth race when the gate’s wings malfunctioned necessitating a start by the “honor system.”

Driver professionalism prevailed in that event as the starters–sans one–got off to an even start. One horse, Howard’s Girl, was deemed by the judges to get an unfair start and refunds were offered immediately after the event. The situation returned to normal shortly thereafter.

BTTT night also featured the return of two former announcers, Jerry Glantz and Warren DeSantis, who further brightened the festivities by calling four races each.

All told, Back-To-The-Track night proved to be a rousing success to a large and enthusiastic crowd.