by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Johnny Grippa teamed up with driver Bruce Ranger to score a handy win measuring 2-1/2 lengths in Pompano Park’s $8,500 Winner’s Over Handicap Pace on Saturday night (May 23) in 1:51.4.

Johnny Grippa, driven by Bruce Ranger, scored a handy win in Pompano Park’s top pace on Saturday night.

The 7-year-old son of Cam’s Card Shark led at every junction in the mile, clocking fractions of :27.2, :56.4 and 1:25.3 before exploding home in :26.1 to pin the defeat on stablemate Hillybilly, handled by Ben McNeil, with Northern Companion, with Tom Sells handling the lines, third. Shamderock and Who’s Your Maddy picked up the final awards in the quintet.

At the outset, Johnny Grippa was sent right to the front from his advantageous post five with Northern Companion, one slot in, also on the engine early and settling in the garden spot with Shamderock, Who’s Your Maddy and Hillybilly completing the order through the early going and over to the half.

On the backside, driver McNeil sent Hillybilly winging from the back of the pack and with no interruptions brushed up into second around the final turn.

In the lane, Johnny Grippa was doing some serious brushing of his own, scorching the last panel to seal the deal.

In a post race interview, driver Bruce Ranger, having just celebrated lifetime win number 8,888 just last Wednesday, smiled and said, “Well, that’s the first of my next 8,888.”

He continued, “This is just a hard hitting, solid performer. He loves to be in the thick of the action from the get-go and the five post here is the perfect spot to do so. He was sharp last week finishing second and he was sharp again tonight with the soft fractions helping him the middle half of the mile.”

Trained by Stewart Nemiro for Mc Trade Enterprises, Johnny Grippa won for the fifth time this year in 18 starts, good for $40,600 so far in 2015. Lifetime, Johnny Grippa now owns 42 wins with career earnings of $194,170. As the 1-5 chalk on the toteboard, Johnny Grippa paid $2.40 to win.

Skip Smith photos

Bring On The Beach, a full brother to Somebeachsomewhere, made his debut a winning one for Wally Hennessey in 1:54.4.

Also of interest on the Saturday night card was the winning debut of Bring On The Beach, a 3-year-old full brother to the great Somebeachsomewhere.

Trained by Jim McDonald for the Mardon Stables, Paradox Farm and Dan MacIssac, Bring On The Beach scored for Wally Hennessey in 1:54.4, holding off the late surging pair of Marion and Motorcity Pawnstar in the process.

Bring On The Beach was away cautiously in this, his first career outing before brushing from third around the opening turn and taking the lead right at the first marker in :29. He then proceeded through panels of :57.4 and 1:26 before holding on to score by three-parts of a length on the strength of his :28.4 finale.

Unraced at two — sans a Mohawk qualifier in which he made a miscue early — Bring On The Beach came into the action off of a 1:56.4 qualifying win three weeks ago.

After the win, Hennessey said, “He’s a nice colt, no doubt about that…but he’s got about 40 lengths to make up to catch his brother…$3 million, too. He’s got some talent. I hope he goes half as far as his brother!”

As the 4-5 toteboard favorite, Bring On The Beach paid $3.80 to win to his many followers.

Racing continues on Wednesday night with first post tabbed at 7:30 p.m.

In our last report, it was erroneously stated that the handle for last Wednesday’s program was a record $1,381,817. While the single race handle of $1,299,038 proved to be a record, the aforementioned total handle was not a record as $1,435,549 was wagered on Isle of Capri night in 2003 and $1,403,907 was the total handle on Isle of Capril night in 2000.