Due to the expectation of a third straight dominant effort by Delivered From Zin, place and show wagering was excluded from the weekly top pacing class handicap event in the third race on Saturday night at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park. It didn't turn out as expected
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Delivered From Zin was ordered to the outside in the field of seven starters but was last leaving the starting gate as a 1-9 favourite at the quarter call. From there, the 20-time winner from 2010 on the Delaware circuit, Chester and Pocono proceeded to go off stride. That left the door wide open for a controlling front end score by the overlooked winner from seven days prior, Four Starz Bling in the $12,000 purse event. He was let go by the public at 12-1.
"My horse [Four Starz Bling] left great and at the worst I was expecting a two hole trip...I really didn't know what happened behind me," driver Bruce Ranger explained. "Everything felt comfortable and at no time did I know that Delivered From Zin made a break. I was a bit surprised it was Ricky [Macomber Jr. with Sports Fanatic] and not Anthony that came first over. Four Starz Bling paced right back to the 1:52.1 he went last week, but tonight it was cooler and breezier out there. I have good memories of him since just a week ago he dug in hard when I got that 8,000th lifetime win," Ranger added.
Fox Valley Tyrese, the longest offering in the field at over 50-1, followed in for the second with Jason Dillander in the bike and Rick Schaut's Mai Tai Guy brushed in for third. Four Starz Bling, a nine-year-old Blissfull Hall-Carrietown gelding is a career winner of over $440,000 trained by Tom Harmer for New Jenneration Stable of Palm Beach, Florida.
Although he was sent off at 1-9, there was ample precedent in the past calendar year for bad behavior by Delivered From Zin. For previous trainers Lou Pena and Dylan Davis, Delivered From Zin had a recent rap sheet of costly breaks in stride on January 18, February 22 and November 7 of 2010.
The Saturday evening longshot parade in South Florida continued for the next two races. In the fourth, driver David Ingraham weaved pacer Scoot Diablo through traffic in the stretch for a 28-1 upset over a conditioned pace group for a $4,000 purse. Scoot Diablo is owned by Amante Standardbreds of Delray Beach, Florida and the five-year-old gelding is now trained by Marc Aubin.
In the fifth race, owner and trainer Cherie Coakwell of Bowmanville, Ont. counted her first win of the meet. In spite of a parked out trip, claiming pacer Blues Hot Clues was the best in the stretch with Doug Brown in the bike for a 13-1 win mutuel.
An added wagering feature will debut on the Monday evening, January 24 program at The Winter Capital Of Harness Racing.
"In response to customer requests we've added a Pick-3 wager for the final three races each night," said John Yinger, the Director Of Racing Operations. "I agree it's a great idea since we only had a single multi-race wager on each program with the Pick-4 until now," he says.
Post time is 7:05 p.m. EST every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park. Live race night streaming and the replays archive is available for free in the 'racing' tab at www.theislepompanopark.com.
(Pompano Park)