It could be considered an unusual and perhaps a rare milestone for five-year-old pacing mare Nillabomb. Even her trainer, Eric Beach, was caught off guard when informed that she’s now had twenty-five different drivers

in her career which now spans four seasons and 97 starts.

“Wow it just never occurred to me it was that many drivers that she’s had,” Beach said when informed that the recent addition of Joshua Sutton to Nillabomb’s race bike made it an even twenty-five driving partners. “Thinking back though from the time she started out on the Michigan Fair Circuit we sure have piled up the miles together. I should know because my wife Kim and I have done all the trucking around of her ourselves. And trust me, it’s been thousands and thousands and thousands of miles.”

Because of a Friday night concert, there was a live program moved forward to Thursday evening at Pompano Park. The feature event was the $12,000 purse mares handicap with Nillabomb ordered to start outside in the field of nine. The daughter of Admirals Galley-Be A Little Lady competes for the ownership of Trifecta 246 Stable of Linden, MI. The stable members are Gwen and Gerald Knapp along with Kim Beach.

In this test, Nillabomb raced valiantly first over for the final five-eighths of the mile and her long first over grind fell just short by a nose in the photo finish to her stablemate Witch Trials in 1:55. Nillabomb won the event last week, and it was the second straight week that the pair of top mares from the Eric Beach barn swept the top two positions in this weekly class at the current meet in South Florida.

The roan colouring of Nillabomb is reminiscent of another Michigan-bred sired by Admirals Galley that earned continent-wide notoriety, Admirals Express. Bred by Nickie Benson of Michigan, Nillabomb currently stands at $329,293 in career earnings, a far cry from the $1.7 million plateau achieved by Admirals Express. Nillabomb’s top earning year was 2007 when she debuted as a two-year-old and piled up over $124,000 on the Michigan Fair circuit. 2010 is proving to be her best year to date in the older ranks as she’s banked over $75,000.

“She won’t likely ever be as famous as Admirals Express but I couldn’t be any prouder of her,” Eric Beach offers. “She’s iron tough and very versatile, just the complete package that any trainer could want. And wow with this news she’s had twenty-five drivers and competed or qualified at fifteen different tracks too, I feel really fortunate to have had her in my barn for her whole career. I don’t think you even hear of many cars or trucks that have twenty-five different drivers in their lifespan. I don’t think many thoroughbred horses would have had twenty-five different jockeys in their careers either. It must be rare for harness racing too and I didn’t even realize she’d had so many different drivers. In any case, she never shies from doing her work and as long as she’s up to it, we look forward to doing the miles with her in 2011 and the years ahead too.”

Nillabomb’s roster of drivers to date:

1.Eric Beach 2. Joshua Sutton 3. Tom Sells 4. Mike Micallef 5. Catello Manzi 6. Greg Merton 7. Eric Goodell 8. Stephane Bouchard 9. Anthony Napolitano 10. Jeff Gregory 11. Daniel Dube 12. Kevin Sizer 13. Bruce Ranger 14. Wally Hennessey 15. Ricky Macomber, Jr. 16. Walter Ross, Jr. 17. Ray Vizzi 18. Richard Simard 19. Danny Johnson 20. Eric Carlson 21. Brad Kramer 22. Rick Zeron 23. Mark MacQuarrie 24. Paul MacDonell 25. Jason Brewer

Nillabomb’s roster of 15 tracks raced or qualified at:

1.Pompano Park 2. Tioga Downs 3. Yonkers 4. Pocono Downs 5. Northville Downs 6. Saratoga 7. Hazel Park 8. Mohawk 9. Windsor 10. Western Fair 11. Midland 12. Holland 13. Big Rapids 14. Fowlerville 15. Jackson

(Pompano Park)