He was conspicuously absent from the nightly line-up after a serious racing accident last April, and Bruce Ranger will be just as conspicuous in his return to nightly duty

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Ranger, South Florida's all-time leading driver, is scheduled to appear in at least six of the 13 races which have been carded for Pompano Park's Wednesday, September 21 program of racing --- the opening night program of the track's 2011-2012 meet.

"I'm really looking forward to getting back to work," said the 51-year-old reinsman, who has 8,088 lifetime wins and has steered his mounts to over $32 million in purse earnings. "The timing of an injury that serious wasn't as bad as it could have been. Since I didn't have a major stakes horse to go up north with this year I didn't mind staying in Florida to heal up; and, to be quite honest, I don't enjoy packing up to move, anyway."

A severely separated right shoulder was at the top of a long list of injuries suffered by Ranger last April 12 when pacing mare Stylish Soiree N fell at the start of a race and threw him to the track. To kick up the pace of his recovery, Ranger called on a chiropractor with a connection to one of Pompano's most legendary horseman in history.

"It's only in the last three weeks that I've been able to feel almost all my strength returning to my right arm and shoulder, and I credit Dr. Charles Sands for that," Ranger said. "Some people might remember that he's the chiropractor that helped the late Stanley Dancer a lot back in the 1960s and 1970s. I wasn't really satisfied with the follow-up treatment and advice I was getting from other doctors, but since I've been going to Dr. Sands the scar tissue is healing much faster and the pace of my recovery has really improved in recent weeks."

On the opening night program, Ranger's top mount stands to be Keystone Thomas, who has been assessed as the 5-2 early choice in the $12,000 trot.

(Pompano)

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