Pompano Beach, FL — Rebellious returned to the racing wars after being given a couple of weeks off to freshen up and proved that the vacation was well worth it by scoring a 1:49.4 win in Pompano Park’s $10,500 Open I-II Handicap Pace on Monday night (Feb. 15).

Rebellious is shown in his final stride of a 1:49.4 mile on Monday night. Dee Leftwich photo.

The 7-year-old gelded son of Mach Three, trained by Mike Deters, who co-owns with Joel Warner, had Wally Hennessey in the sulky and took charge from his post five around the initial turn and carded fractions of :26.3, :55.1 and 1:22.1 along the way before holding off the bid of the pocket-sitting Alluneedisfaith N (Mike Simons) to score by a half-length. Ideal Feeling (Rick Plano) was third, three lengths away, while Kinnder Jackson finished fourth. Real Peace picked up the nickel after a modest bid heading into the final turn.

Rebellious, who got into a :26, :53.3 and 1:21.2 war in his last start on Jan. 25 before exhaustion set in, was smartly given extra time off to “clear his head” and came back and rewarded his faithful with his best performance since his return to South Florida in early December.

Said trainer Mike Deters, “He had an extremely tough trip in his last start so I decided to give him an extra week and turn him out to clear his head. He always seems to race very well off of a little freshen up time and he was really exceptional tonight. It was a superior effort and the fact that he dug in when it counted was really impressive in my eyes.”

Driver Hennessey merely echoed Deters’ comments by simply saying, “He’s just a very special horse.”

The win was the 43rd in 116 career starts for Rebellious and sent his lifetime bounty to $334,706. Despite the three week respite, Rebellious was the 8-5 choice and paid $5.20 to win.

In the $11,000 Open Handicap Trot, Born To Thrive, the gutsy 8-year-old altered son of Swan For All, overcame his assigned outside post and won his third straight Open Handicap Trot, stopping the timer in a lifetime best 1:52.4. His previous 1:52.4 win over the larger Hoosier Park oval came three seasons back.

Born To Thrive used, virtually, the same tactics as in his previous two wins — away near the back of the pack and beginning his grind forward once the opening panel was completed. The 1-2 favorite, In Secret (David Miller), was second, a neck back of the winner, with Muscles For Life (Wally Hennessey) just another nose back in third. Sooo Handsome, a stablemate of Born To Thrive, was fourth while The Lionking AS picked up the minor award.

At the outset, an early battle developed as Muscles For Life left alertly to take charge only to yield to In Secret at the opener in :27.1. The latter then took the field to a :56 half as Born To Thrive reached fourth and kept grinding away through a picked up :28.1 third quarter to reach second around the final bend.

Once they straightened away, the determined Born To Thrive kept gnawing away and just did get up a stride or two from the wire.

After the event, Plano lamented, “He (Born To Thrive) is really good now. As you can see, he gets very determined once they straighten away for the wire. He doesn’t mind the ‘open air’ at all and can stay outside all day long.

“You know, he almost died last summer with kidney failure and was sidelined in the hospital for three or four weeks. The prognosis wasn’t good at all but he came through that and is as good as ever.

“He’s just a wonderful horse that’s great to be around and a good reason to get up in the morning and go to work!”

Plano trains Born To Thrive for Maryann Plano and John Campagnuolo and won for the 43rd time during a career where he has banked $435,122. Despite his two race win streak coming in, Born To Thrive was only third choice in the wagering at 9-2 and paid $11.80.

Handle for the night was $1,608,440, an all-time record since the track opened in 1964 and the 14th million dollar handle night this season, far eclipsing the number of million dollar handles during the previous 56 seasons.

Racing continues on Tuesday with free programs available on the isle casino racing website and yet another guaranteed pool — $20,000 — on the nightly Pick-4. Post time is set for 7:20 p.m.