by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Pompano Park opens on Sunday (Oct. 2) for its 53rd season — a 126 night stand which concludes May 30, 2017.

The track will offer a lavish wagering buffet, including a Pick-5 beginning with the first race, a Pick-6 encompassing races three through eight and a Pick-4 covering races six through nine. The popular pentafecta will be conducted on the fourth race while the Super Hi-5 will, as usual, be contested in the finale on every program.

The fourth race pentafecta will feature a 100 percent carryover if no tickets are sold on the winning combination while the Super Hi-5 will pay the entire pool only if one unique ticket has the winning combination. Should there be multiple winners in the Super Hi-5, each would share in a 50 percent net pool payout with 50 percent being carried over to the next Super Hi-5.

The Pick-6 will have a 75 percent carryover if there is no ticket sold on the winning combination, meaning there will be a 25 percent consolation shared among those with the next highest total of winners selected.

Brett Revington, Director of Racing, said, “We are optimistic that the new season will be a great one and our lavish wagering buffet should attract interest throughout North America.

“Our Pick-4 will start out with a $7,500 guaranteed pool and features a takeout of only 12 percent, making it a most attractive offering to our fans.

“The Pick-5 will offer a new $1 minimum wager while the Pick-6 will feature 50-cent boxes and wheels.”

The 2016-2017 meeting is also featuring no less than 15 late closing events, including three with estimated purses exceeding $100,000 — the Open Pacing Series, the Open Trotting Series and the Open for pacing fillies and mares.

The opening night of racing features a 12 race pari-mutuel program highlighted by an Open event for the top early arrivals at the track. Third round action of the FSBOA Sunshine State Stakes will be on the card as well — the first two legs having being contested over the Sunshine Meadows oval in mid-September.

In the Open, Rockntouch, trained by Mickey McNichol for owners Fred Monteleone and Salvatore Promuto, returns to Pompano Park from a summer at Pocono. This 4-year-old son of Rock N Roll Heaven won three of his last four starts as the Pompano meeting ended in May, including a lifetime best 1:51.3 performance in his last start here.

In Sunshine State Stakes action, Amante Standardbreds’ Famous C, a 2-year-old daughter of Famously trained by Marc Aubin, puts her unblemished two-for-two record on the line in the juvenile trot. Famous C knocked five seconds off of her maiden win at Sunshine Meadows with a 2:00.3 score for Wally Hennessey, who is expected back in the sulky Sunday night.

In the Sunshine State Stakes for 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings, Proud Joe T, leased and trained by Dave Myrick, looks for his third straight win to keep his 2016 record perfect after a two-for-two start. This son of Proud Bushy has reduced his mark each start and looks to keep last year’s champion, Rexamillion, in his wake for the third straight week. Rob Hoffman is listed to drive, as he did in the gelding’s last pair of wins.

Post time for the new meeting has been reset to 7:20 p.m.