Crisp Mane, handled by Hall of Fame driver David Miller, reached the winner's circle after knocking at the door for several weeks in winning Pompano Park's $11,500 Open Handicap Pace for mares on Tuesday night (Jan. 19).
The five-year-old daughter of Sportswriter took charge shortly after the :27.4 opener and proceeded to put of numbers of :55.4 and 1:24 before a :27.4 sprint home sealed the deal in 1:51.4.
Not only was it a new lifetime mark for Crisp Mane, it vaulted her career earnings over the $200,000 plateau.
The Australian-bred Lucky Artist (Ricky Macomber Jr.) closed fastest of all — in :27.1 — to finish second, a half length away, while early leader Prairie Westerngal (Wally Hennessey) was third. Tempus Seelster finished fourth, while Casies Believer picked up the nickel in the classy septet.
At the outset, Prairie Westerngal (post five) roared off the wings into a quick open-lengths lead with Lucky Artist (post four) land in the garden spot and Crisp Mane on the move from third in search of the lead.
Once she got to the top, Crisp Mane set sharp fractions deterring any threats throughout with her :27.4 finale holding her foes at bay through the finish line.
After the race, Miller commented, "Last week, I had to go first-up with her on the backside and, while she raced real good, I didn't want to do that again, so I decided to go after the lead. Once she got there, she was very solid and still on 'go' at the wire."
Crisp Mane, trained by Devan Miller for owner Sylvia Burke, won for the 12th time in her career and paid $4.60 to win as the 6-5 favourite.
The Tuesday program also featured the Super Hi-5 finale with a $121,000 carryover and a mandatory payout. The event drew immense interest from the "#SendItIn Army" with 215 winning tickets sold on the winning 8-1-7-10-2 combination — each worth a lucrative $2,003.78 for a 20-cent investment.
Total handle for the Tuesday-11 race program was $1,362,904, more than $1 million over the comparable night one year ago.
The excitement continues on Wednesday night (Jan. 20) with a Pick-5 guaranteed pool of $125,000, necessitated when no one was able to solve Tuesday's Pick-5 — that carryover being over $28,000.
Wednesday post time is set for 7:20 p.m.
(Pompano Park)