by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Rick Plano won half of the races on Pompano Park’s 12 race program and Wally Hennessey hit yet another grand slam with four wins, including both feature events on Tuesday night (Nov. 1).

That left only the scraps left on the table for drivers Brad Kramer and Sean McAleese with the win by the latter responsible for a rare superfecta carryover and a slew of other carryovers for the upcoming Sunday night program.

Plano’s touchdown also included a grand slam of his own on the training side as trainers Dan Hennessey and Dale Gilmour also had multiples.

Plano’s first win was with the Maryann Plano and Michael Guest owned Stache ($2.60), that 4-year-old son of Andover Hall stopping the timer in 1:56.2 in a conditioned trot. His second win came in the pentafecta fourth when Dale Gilmour’s Sweet Bet ($4.20) scored in a lifetime best 1:53.3 for her 36th lifetime victory. Win number three was with Karma Racing’s Metro Glide ($5.00), trained by Gilmour. This 4-year-old daughter of Metropolitan used a backside blitz from fourth to sweep into the lead and on to victory in 1:54.2. Plano then earned his fourth win of the night with his own Sooo Handsome ($3.80), so very game in scoring his win from the nine post in 1:58.3. His fifth win came in the first half of the late daily double when Colene Lameyer’s Ex King ($10.60), trained by Plano, came from far back to score in a conditioned trotting event in 1:58.1. Plano completed his touchdown run by sweeping the late double with Lookharryimwinning ($4.80), owned by Ms. Plano and Ethan Schlau, in 1:56.

Hennessey, meanwhile, got his initial win of the night with Arthur Mergenhagen’s Seeking Steven ($4.60), that 4-year-old son of Muscle Mass stepping up to Open 2 class and winning his second straight in 1:56.1.

Skip Smith photo

Godiva Seelster earned her fourth straight win in Pompano Park’s Open pace for mares.

The first of Pompano Park’s dual features was next on the Hennessey agenda and, despite having the outside post, it was the grand mare Godiva Seelster ($2.80) that led at every pole through panels of :27.1,:56.4 and 1:24 to score an undisturbed win in 1:52.2 for her fourth straight fall win in Pompano Park’s top pace for mares. Goldstar Rockette (Kevin Wallis), leaving from post six and in the garden spot all the way after an early yield, finished second while Safe From Terror (Bryce Fenn) was next. Southwind Trini and Memumsnotnice were four-five, respectively, in the octet.

In a post race interview, Hennessey had high praise for the 6-year-old daughter of Camluck saying, “Nothing bothers this mare. She takes care of herself, she trains the way she wants to train and, when she goes behind the gate, she’s all business. She’s a rare commodity. You hardly know she’s in the barn!”

Owned by Paul and Patricia O’Neil and trained by Dan Hennessey, Godiva Seelster earned her 10th win of the year and 35th lifetime in 104 starts. She has banked $95,058 this year and $315,775 career-wise.

One race later, Boli ($8.60), also owned by the O’Neils and trained by Dan Hennessey, overcame the second tier 10 post to score a narrow victory in the Open Trot over She’s All In (Plano) with Prairie Fortune (John MacDonald) third. McKenzie’s Star and Sailer Eddie earned the minors in that one.

Boli followed Sailer Eddie (post one) and wound up fifth early on as Swishnflick blasted off the wings to take on She’s All In (post five) early and take the field through lively early panels of :27.1 and :55.3 with Sailer Eddie third and Prairie Fortune (post nine) wending his way into fourth.

Just short of the second station, Prairie Fortune was out and rolling, surging to the front past the next marker in 1:24.4 with Boli now on the attack and She’s All In also on the prowl after a brief shuffle. In the lane, Boli wore down Prairie Fortune and appeared to think his work was done at the sixteenth pole as She’s All In came surging late.

With Plano screaming, “I think I gotcha” and Hennessey retorting “I don’t think so,” the two hit the wire together as both broke out in laughter at the wire, a scenario captured to perfection by track photographer Skip Smith. After the judges looked at the photo, it was found that, indeed, Boli had his neck up at the wire.

Afterwards, Hennessey said, “Boli can get a little lazy once he gets the lead. He thinks his work is done. He’ll keep digging and digging until he gets to the lead, but once he’s there, he thinks he’s done. Rick (Plano) thought he had me and we laughed about it at the wire.”

Boli, a 4-year-old son of Kadabra, sent his 2016 scorecard to 9-6-2 in 22 starts, good for $68,842 this semester and $128,494 lifetime.

Hennessey completed his grand slam a race later by guiding Byron Pineda’s Ontheclock Hanover ($10.20) to a win in 1:54.1. The Rita Polese trained 7-year-old son of American Ideal lifted his career bankroll close to $250,000.

A rare superfecta carryover occurred in the third race as Yagot Class, superbly handled by Sean McAleese, overcame the nine post with a wire-to-wire win in a conditioned trot and lit up the toteboard with a $71.60 mutuel.

That win was the first of the year in 10 starts for Yagot Class and provided bettors with a number of carryovers leading to next Sunday’s program. The Sunday night card has a scheduled post time of 7:20 p.m. and features carryovers in the Pentafecta fourth, the Pick-5 (covering races one through five) and the Pick-6 (encompassing races three through eight). The program concludes with the Super Hi-5 finale with a carryover of $5,090.49.