by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Driver Dewayne Minor was in the bike for the major upset in Pompano Park’s $11,000 featured trot for the mares on Wednesday night (Jan. 10) as Celebrity Artemis pulled off the 15-1 upset.

Skip Smith photo

Celebrity Artemis pulled off a 15-1 upset in Pompano Park’s trotting feature on Wednesday night.

The 7-year-old daughter of Andover Hall covered the standard distance in 1:56.1 over a racetrack continually pelted by rain throughout the night. Her winning margin was a half-length over the late charging JS Foxy Lady, handled by Ricky Macomber Jr., with the 4-5 favorite Skyway Priss third for Peter Wrenn after cutting the mustard for most of the mile. She’s All In, prominent in the garden spot most of the way, wound up fourth while Modern Mercury picked up the final award in her sextet.

At the outset, She’s All In (Rick Plano) left alertly from her inside post and led for much of the opening panel, yielding to Skyway Priss just before the opening marker, reached in :28.2. From there, Skyway Priss put up a half in :57.3 with She’s All In sitting chilly, JS Foxy Lady next and Celebrity Artemis fourth, but on the move first up with three-eighths to go.

Reaching the third station in 1:26.3, Skyway Priss was firm on the lead but once they straightened away, Celebrity Artemis kept gnawing away, taking command at the 16th pole and holding off JS Foxy Lady in the final strides.

After the race, driver Dewayne Minor related, “This is a mare that was involved in the fire last year and she was out for some time. Besides the smoke, she had the hair on her back singed off and it still hasn’t grown back too much. Maybe we should start a ‘Hair Club for Horses!’

“She’s quite a gutsy mare to come back from all she’s gone through and I thought she might have as good a chance as any in there since she has been racing well lately. I was very proud of her performance. Good for her!”

Trained by Sam Stathis for Celebrity Farms, Celebrity Artemis kicked off her 2018 campaign with her 10th lifetime win, pushing her career bankroll to $75,904. As fourth choice on the toteboard at 15-1, Celebrity Artemis rewarded her faithful with a $33.40 mutuel.

The win was one of two for Minor, as he also won with the 24-1 chance Celebrity Apollo to complete the early daily double at Pompano. Also trained by Stathis for Celebrity Farms, Celebrity Apollo, described as a “green 4-year-old” by driver Dewayne Minor, broke his maiden with a 1:59.4 score, hitting the board for the first time in 13 career starts.

“He’s just learning,” said Minor, “and I think he does have potential. He went a very good journey in his race and showed a will to win late. Hopefully, he’ll keep improving!”

Off at 24-1, Celebrity Apollo paid $51.40 to win.

Racing continues on Saturday night with a trio of carryovers sparking the festivities. The card kicks off with a Pick-5 carryover of $6,949 and the Super Hi-5 carryover has swelled to $73,761. There is also a carryover in the Pick-6. Post time is set for 7:20 p.m.