by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — Rock On Moe, deftly handled by Dan Daley, conquered six worthy opponents and the elements to score a 1:52.3 win in Pompano Park’s $15,000 Open Handicap Pace on Sunday night (April 15).

The 10-year-old Rocknroll Hanover warrior, despite the adverse weather conditions of heavy rain and wind, stopped the timer in 1:52.3 in holding off the late surging Panocchio and Wally Hennessey by a neck. Dee’s Rocketman, driven by Andy Santeramo, finished third while Doo Wop Hanover, actually closing fastest of all in the late stages, finished fourth while Drachan Hanover picked up the nickel.

Skip Smith photo

Rock On Moe took top honors in Pompano Park’s $15,000 Open Handicap Pace on Sunday night.

At the outset, there were several leavers both inside and outside of Rock On Moe (post five) with driver Dan Daley sending his charge out looking and finding a spot mid-pack. Hollywood Sign A (post seven) surged through the sloppy going and out-sprinted Panocchio (post four) through an opening panel in a sizzler of :26.1 with Doo Wop Hanover (post three), in somewhat of a surprise, showing some gate speed and winding up in third in front of Rock On Moe.

With a half in :56.2, things began to heat up again on the backside as Daley sent Rock On Moe first up, denting an official third panel of :27.2 and reaching the saddlepad of the leader past the third station in 1:23.4 with Panocchio in a bind with nowhere to go. Once they straightened away, Rock On Moe took command with authority and opened up a two length lead before Panocchio found a seam and began closing in — the latter’s rally falling a neck short on the wire.

In a post race interview, trainer-driver Daley related, “He’s just a classy, good old horse that tries every time he goes behind the gate. The sloppy conditions didn’t bother him — nothing does. He’s won several times on off tracks so I wasn’t concerned about that at all. He’s not afraid to go first up, either. As I said, he’s just a rugged racehorse and, after he raced so good last week, I was looking forward to tonight. He performed right up to expectations!”

Owned by Jirl LLc, Rock On Moe won for the 39th time during his career stretching 185 starts, good for $641,870 — $11,250 this semester in his first three starts of 2018. Off as fourth choice at 5-1, Rock On Moe paid $12.80 to win.

In the “better for the bettor” department, the Rock On Moe win enabled one fortunate player to cash a 50-cent Pick-6 ticket to the tune of $18,263,80. Also, the track’s Super Hi-5 finale was hit when one unique ticket was sold on the 9-7-6-10-5 combination — that 20-cent ticket worth $9,650.38.

Racing continues Monday night with first post scheduled for 7:20 p.m.