by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Rainbow Gold, fresh off of a lifetime best 1:55.4 performance in the top conditioned class at Pompano one week ago, stepped up to the top rung on the ladder on Tuesday night (Jan. 12) and established yet another lifetime best performance, stopping the clock in 1:55.3 in the $13,000 Open Handicap Trot.

Skip Smith photo

Rainbow Gold took top honors in Pompano Park’s $13,000 Open Handicap Trot on Tuesday night.

The 9-year-old altered son of Thunder Road, handled by Steve Condren for trainer Ashley Duford and owner Dennis Duford, took command at the :28 opening station and proceeded on to card panels of :56.1 and 1:26 before a :29.3 sprint home over a track labeled “good” after being dulled by earlier rain. She’s All In, with Rick Plano in the bike, finished second, 1-1/2 lengths away, while Diamond Dagger and Mark O’Mara teamed up for show honors. My Revenuer rallied for fourth and Cashahallic picked up the final award in the field of nine.

In a post-race interview, driver Steve Condren remarked, “This is a gutsy trotter that is finding his best stride right now. I knew that Kevin’s (Wallis) horse (Sailer Eddie) likes the front end so I figured that I would find a spot behind him but when that opportunity didn’t quite present itself, I thought I’d just go for the top and see what happens.

“There was some pressure coming at him around the final turn (from Lexis D J) but my horse just pricked his ears up and off he went.”

In keeping his 2016 scorecard a perfect two-for-two, Rainbow Gold won for the 35th time during his career now measuring 138 starts with career bounty now totaling $187,767. As the 7-5 favorite, Rainbow Gold paid $4.80 to win.

In the $10,000 co-featured conditioned trot, Dennis Whittemore’s Winding Hill, driven by John MacDonald, used a backside blitz to force Tater Twister (Kevin Wallis) into submission and then went on to score a handy 1:55.2 win measuring 1-3/4 lengths over Ex King (Rick Plano). Tater Twister did finish third while Caviart Griffin rallied for fourth. Buddy Hally picked up the nickel after an early miscue thwarted his chances for a higher finish.

Winding Hill, a 5-year-old gelded son of Here Comes Herbie, won for the 12th time during his career to send his lifetime bankroll to $105,710. As the 7-5 chalk, Winding Hill paid $4.80 to win.

Also on the Tuesday night card, Donald Dupont’s I’m A Gift pulled off a 30-1 upset in the Pentafecta fourth with no winning tickets sold on the 1-8-4-9-5 combination and a carryover of $3,729 spilling over to the Wednesday card. A $10,000 guaranteed pool is on tap for Wednesday’s 20-cent Pentafecta fourth.

Dupont’s win also put the kibosh on anyone having a winning ticket on the 3-4-5-1-5 Pick-5 combination and set up shop for a carryover of $3,573 to the midweek Pick-5 and a guarantee of $15,000 on that 50-cent offering, which begins with the first race. Post time for the Wednesday opener is 7:30 p.m.