Panocchio, driven by Wally Hennessey, repelled the onslaught of No Bad Dreams (and driver Dave Ingraham) and Sing For Me George (Kevin Wallis) to score a repeat win in 1:51.3 during Pompano Park's top pace on Sunday night (October 30).
The splendid six-year-old son of No Pan Intended, owned by Emile Johnson, Jr. along with trainer Jim Mattison, won by a neck with a repelling :27.3 final quarter for his eighth win of the year and 44th lifetime in 103 career starts.
Though Panocchio holds the track record at Pompano – 1:48.3 – and Sunday’s win was nowhere near that clocking, the Sunday win – his 23rd at the south Florida oval – was not an easy one.
At the outset, Panocchio, who was assigned the outside post in his sextet, was in a war with both Sing For Me George (Post 5) and Winyard Hanover (Post 1) for early supremacy, with Panocchio only able to achieve the top spot from Sing For Me George after a rugged opener of :26.2 with Winyard Hanover next.
At that point, Here Comes William, Secretsoftheknight and No Bad Dreams were next early on with positions remaining that way through a half in :54.4.
Once they straightened away for their journey up the backside, No Bad Dreams began a serious sprint from the back of the pack about six lengths away and charged up alongside Panocchio around the final bend with that third station timed in 1:24.
With Sing For Me George locked and loaded turning for home, Wallis had to make a decision of whether to be patient and hope for a seam or swing widest of all and he chose the latter and this trio of pacers fanned across the track and began their sprint to the wire.
With an official final panel in :27.3, the photo finish camera had Pinocchio's nose on the line first, which prompted Hennessey to say, in a post-race interview, that "this was no cakewalk. I had no choice but to leave and get into the fray early. You just can't spot horses like this six lengths at the start because then your horse has to be six lengths and a nose better the rest of the mile.
"He's (Panocchio) just a gallant pacer that gives his all every start and, even though we were roughed up a bit during the opening quarter, this horse just digs in when he's asked.
"He beat some very good horses tonight. Sing For Me George is top flight here and No Bad Dreams went a huge trip and stayed straight right to the wire.
"I've said this before, Jimmy (trainer Mattison) and his wife (Vicki) do just an outstanding job with their horses and their performance on the racetrack speaks volumes for their hard work."
For Panocchio, the win pushed his 2016 scorecard to 8-7-2 from 21 starts, good for $83,161 in seasonal earnings and $373,928 lifetime.
As the 3-5 favourite, Panocchio paid $3.20 to win.
Also starring on the Sunday night card was John MacDonald, who hit a grand slam while scoring with Beach Blast ($2.80), Layer Cake ($4.00), Shootin Time ($3.00) and Hurricane Howard ($3.00).
Racing will continue on Tuesday night and will feature a Super Hi-5 carryover that has ballooned to $3,201.
Post time for the card is scheduled for 7:20 p.m.
(Pompano Park)