After an action-packed Sunday (Jan. 10) featuring a $172,173 Pick-5 pool, Pompano Park will follow that with twin $30,000 guaranteed pools in their two Pick-4 wagers during a 13-race extravaganza.
The Sunday Pick-5, with a generous carryover of $24,000 plus, attracted $148,147 in new wagering and, thanks to the heroics of 22-year-old Samuel King, 646 winning tickets resulted in a generous payday of $216.20 for a 50-cent ticket featuring three odds-on favourites, one 5-2 chance and one lone outsider at 13-1. Two of these odds-on favourites were piloted by 22-year-old Samuel King, who, with seven wins coming into Sunday night, posted his first driving double in a pair of Florida Amateur Driving events.
First, King drove Windsun Hugo through a gate-to-wire win in 1:57.3 as the even-money favourite for Melissa Beckwith, who trains for the Jackie Greene Stable. Then, to complete the Pick 5, King handled 1-2 chalk Piercewave Hanover perfectly and patiently to score by three lengths in 1:58. Melissa Beckwith also trains that nine-year-old son of Donato Hanover for owner Jordan Derue.
Not only was it a milestone win for Samuel King, it was also one for the winner, whose lifetime earnings eclipsed the $500,000 plateau... $500,763 to be precise.
To close the Sunday program, second choice Rural Art ($6.40), driven by Joe Sanzeri, took top honours, but nary a single ticket was sold on the 6-1-5-10-7 combination in the Super Hi-5 jackpot, resulting in a carryover of $82,296.50 into Monday's 13-race extravaganza.
The Monday (Jan. 11) program, indeed, features twin $30,000 guaranteed pools in the track's Pick-4 events—the first beginning in Race 6 and the second taking place starting in Race 10. Both feature a 12-percent takeout, the lowest in the industry.
The card also features several feature events including the renewal of the Muscles For File-DGs Caviar rivalry in the Open Handicap Trot and Southwind Amazon trying for his 100th win when he starts in the Open Pace.
Free programs are available at the isle casino racing website.
Posts time for the Monday program is 7:20 p.m. (EST).
(Pompano Park)