Adenium, making only his second start over Pompano Park’s five-eighths mile oval, made amends for his early miscue a week ago and scored a handy one length victory in the $11,500 Open 1 Trot on Wednesday night.
The seven-year-old gelded son of Revenue S, owned by Lloyd Gilmour of Lake Worth and trained by G. Dean Gilmour, used a huge backstretch brush to pull on even terms with pacesetting Commander K (Kevin Wallis) around turn three and went on to score the win over the late closing Shes All In (Rick Plano) in a lifetime best 1:54.1, eclipsing his former mark by two and two-fifths seconds. Ill Tell You What (David Ingraham) was third with the late charging My Revenuer (Stephane Lareau) fourth.
Driver Fern Paquet Jr. had nothing but praise for the winner. “When the weather turned ugly last week, he didn’t grab the track at all but Dean [Gilmour] thought he’d be better on this track, which was manicured perfectly tonight.
“When I asked him on the backside, he responded like a ‘hoppled pacer!’ The time didn’t really surprise me because he showed he could trot some late on a half-miler so I thought he’d really like this larger oval.”
The win — Adenium’s 12th lifetime — pushed his career bounty to nearly $120,000.
The $7,500 Open 2 Trot went to the only mare in the field, Blushing Hanover, as she wired the boys on her way to a five length win in 1:54.4 for Mickey McNichol.
Carving panels of :27.3, :56.4 and 1:25.3, the six-year-old daughter of Donerail scored her victory at the expense of Super Lotto (Tom Sells) with Classic Viking (Wally Hennessey) third. Mr Jim Dandy (David Ingraham) was fourth in the mile with Lugar (Bruce Ranger) picking up the minor scraps.
Owned and trained by Tom Gonsalves, Blushing Hanover won for the 11th time in 61 lifetime starts sending her bounty to $186,303.
“She raced much more relaxed tonight," McNichol said after the race. "Tom [Gonsalves] decided to try an open bridle on her as she always seemed to fight everything throughout her miles and have nothing left late. She accomplished her mile in a much more relaxed manner and had something left in reserve at the end.”
Racing continues at the South Florida oval on Saturday night with a first race post time of 7:05 p.m. with a million-dollar quintet going to the gate in the Open I Handicap Pace.
(With files from Pompano Park)