by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — With the “Queen Bee”—Just A Bee—out of the lineup this Monday night (Feb. 23) , J. L. Benson Stables’ Senorita Santanna did some stinging of her own in Pompano Park’s $12,000 Open Pace for the mares.

The 5-year-old daughter of Santanna Blue Chip, driven by George Napolitano, Jr. for trainer Paul Holzman, led every step of her mile and stopped the tele-timer in a seasonal best 1:51.1, pinning a defeat measuring seven lengths on the late surging De Vins Girl (Jason Dillander) with Southwind Trini (Bruce Ranger) next in the quintet over Always Dee One and Keystone Christa.

Carding panels of :27.2, :55.4 and 1:23 along the way, Senorita Santanna never had an anxious moment as the 1-5 choice, opening a 2-1/2 length lead at the opening quarter and blitzing away from her foes on the backside, enjoying a six length advantage by the time they reached the final turn.

In a post race interview, driver George Napolitano, Jr. said, “She (Senorita Santanna) is a very rugged mare that can brush for the whole mile. She was nice and relaxed once we got to the front and, when I asked her for a bit more on the backside, she kind of exploded with pace and that was that!”

Senorita Santanna now has a 4-2-1 scorecard in eight starts this young season and $29,185 to show for it. The classy mare now has five wins since she was claimed for $10,000 by the aforementioned J L Benson Stables back in mid-December with bounty of $32,685 since the claim.

She paid $2.40 to win.

The co-featured $10,000 pace for mares went to Mach Me Not with Wally Hennessey handling the lines.

This 9-year-old daughter of Mach Three came from well off the pace to score in 1:53 over the late surging Glow Stick (Dave Ingraham) with Market Dynamics (Peter Wrenn) third. Art Frenzy finished fourth while Winbak Heavenly, the 4-5 favorite, finished fifth after taking a clear lead turning for home.

Owned by the S S G Stables and trained by Jim McDonald, Mach Me Not won for the second time this season and pushed her lifetime earnings to $309,302 on the strength of her 29 career wins.

She paid $10.80 to her $2 backers.

McDonald also drove the winner of the second race, steering the 4-year-old trotting gelding Looney to a 38-1 victory—his maiden win in 17 lifetime starts.

Also on the Monday card was the first leg of the “Happy Wife, Happy Life” Late Closing Event for claiming pacing mares and Taylor B Good, handled by Rick Plano gutted out a courageous first-over victory in 1:54.4.

This 6-year-old daughter of Kilowatt, trained by Bernie Wolin for owner Hilda Wolin, was away fifth early as, first, Flying Topless, then Hot Latte and then Newsmaker, traded places for the lead through hot panels of :27.1 and :56.3 with Taylor Be Good grinding first-over the entire last lap, reaching the top turning for home and holding off the late charging A and G Covergirl (Ed Hensley) to score by a length. Moon Is On Fire closed from last turning for home to garner show honors while Hot Latte and Newmaker tied for fourth.

For Taylor B Good, it was her initial success of 2015 and sent her lifetime bounty over the $80,000 mark. She paid $4.40 to win as the public choice.

Finally, the popular Pompano Park Pick-5 went unscathed on Monday night with management guaranteeing a $15,000 pool for Wednesday night’s program. Post time is 7:30 p.m.