by John Berry, for Pompano Park
Pompano Beach, FL — Sooo Handsome, who earned a world record trotting mark of 1:09.3 for five-eighths of a mile on a similar sized track just a week ago at Pompano Park, smashed that mark on Tuesday night (Feb. 13) by sizzling that same distance in 1:09 for trainer-driver Rick Plano.
The homebred 5-year-old gelded son of Cash Hall used his rail post position to perfection, out-dueling the anxious opposition early and sprinting through fractions of :27.2 and :55.2 before tacking on a 13.3 final eighth to hit the wire 5-1/4 lengths to the good over William Star, handled by Wally Hennessey, while Legend Field, teamed up with Corey Braden, was next. Love Hunter and Overnight Shipper completed the order of finish in this quintet.
In reflecting on his second world record performance in just seven days, Plano said, “He did it very easily tonight. You know, he’s a very good gaited horse and he’s very handy, so all I did was ask him for a bit early and he gave it to me. He was on cruise control the whole way.
“He’s very fond of Florida and loves this weather. It’s especially gratifying because he’s a homebred and we have had him since day one.”
In response to whether a short distance event makes training for a longer event more difficult, Plano responded, “I usually train him a mile-and-a-half and then a mile-and-a-quarter, so I really don’t think it will bother him. We’ll see how he does against the Open horses where he’s been competitive over the last several starts.”
Now showing a 3-2-0 scorecard in five starts this year, Sooo Handsome has banked $19,000 this semester and $112,340 lifetime in 73 starts to go along with his 1:54.1 mark at Pompano Park set as a 3-year-old. Off as the 1-10 favorite, Sooo Handsome paid $2.20 to win.
Racing continues on Wednesday night with a duet of $11,000 Open Handicap trotting events highlighting the competitive card.
Prairie Fortune makes a return following a brief respite from the racing wars and will have Born To Thrive, Zoraze, Uncle Hanover and Foundonabeach as his rivals while A TC Queenie looks for a repeat in the companion event for mares.
The Super Hi-5 finale has ballooned to $193,652 for the Wednesday card with post time set at 7:20 p.m.