by Michael Costanzo, public relations coordinator, Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — The Florida-bred gelding Railee Possible tallied his second consecutive victory at Pompano Park on Wednesday (July 25), although it took a tight win photo to determine the winner of the featured $15,500 Winners Over Handicap Trot.

Lap Time Photo – Skip Smith

Railee Possible (#5) holds off a late charge by Guy Gets Girl (#6) to score in the $15,500 Winners Over Handicap Trot.

Driven aggressively from post five by Dan Clements, Railee Possible was not content to settle through the early stages of the Wednesday feature, muscling his way to the top on the first turn before cutting out fractions of :27.2, :57, and 1:25.2.

Railee Possible entered the stretch with a 1-1/4 length advantage, but the son of Anythings Possible had yet to face a challenge from rival Guy Gets Girl (Bruce Ranger), who was angled from the pocket to make a late charge at the leader.

With the finish line rapidly approaching, Railee Possible’s advantage over Guy Gets Girl was nearly extinct, but the 5-year-old gelding had enough left in the tank to hold off his pursuer through the final yards and prevailed by a nose in a career best 1:54.2.

Railee Possible returned $4.40, $2.80, $2.20 for the victory. Guy Gets Girl brought in $2.40, $2.40 for second, while third-place finisher Battleshoe Victor (Wally Hennessey) paid $2.40.

Owned by Frank and Inge Smith of Deerfield Beach, and trained by Veral Bowman, Railee Possible has visited the winner’s circle in nine of 20 starts this year, and will close out July with $74,940 in seasonal earnings, over $32,000 more than he amassed in all of 2006.

Sunshine State Stakes continue

Pompano Park hosted six non-wagering second round divisions of the Sunshine State Stakes for Florida-bred trotters on Wednesday, with Trot Monster putting forth the top performance of the evening when prevailing in his division for juvenile colts and geldings.

Driven from post three by Wally Hennessey, the son of Wewering rolled down the lane to prevail in 2:01.3 for owner John Campagnuolo of Loxahatchee and trainer Kim Sears. Ruby’s Jewell (Bruce Ranger) crossed the wire second, while I’malittletootall (Lawrence Hayward) was third.

In the 2-year-old filly trotting division, Indigo Swirl won for the third time in four starts when taking the first non-wagering Sunshine State Stakes event of the evening. The daughter of Crown Cam covered the mile in 2:03.1 for owner/trainer Joseph Kroll and driver Mickey McNichol. Famous Valentine (Hennessey) finished second, while Streeter (Robert Williams, Jr.) was third.

The victory by Indigo Swirl was two seconds faster than the winning mile trotted by Strut, who took the second juvenile trotting filly division in 2:05.1 for owners Sunbird Stable, James Gluhm, and Doug Kistler, trainer Julia Working, and driver Walter Ross, Jr. Happy Bee (Warren Harp) and Suntan Beauty (Jay Sears) rounded out the top three.

In Sunshine State Stakes action for the sophomore set, Sweet Melissa (Kevin Wallis) prevailed in 2:00.1 to win for the second straight time in the first of two divisions for 3-year-old trotting fillies, while Desi’s Toy (Michael Deters) scored in the second division when covering the mile in 2:01.3.

The 3-year-old gelding trotter Bull Durham (Dan Clements) crossed the wire first in the final Sunshine State Stakes event of the evening, but was disqualified and placed fourth, thus awarding the victory to last season’s champion 2-year-old Blake Island (Hennessey). Timer (Ranger) was placed second, with Smothers (Tom Sells) awarded the third spot.