He timed his late stretch move perfectly to nail down a nose photo finish win and was then greeted by cheering well wishers in the winner's circle
. It all made for a most memorable debut in the Florida Amateur Driving Club (FADC) as 30-year-old Tom Santeramo earned his first lifetime driving win in the process.
Santeramo was piloting Techalon and adeptly stayed way back of an early speed battle in the weekly event for the local club at Pompano featuring $5,000 claiming trotters for a $3,300 purse. Mary Birkhold of Sarasota, Florida was also making her first start in the FADC and her charge, KM Sweet Dreams tired after leading through an opening half of :58.3. Swinging up three-wide to take the lead on the final turn was former Billings Series driving champion Jamie Marra, with Rosemarie, only to be caught at the wire in 2:01.1. Levitys Pride, partnered by Dein Spriggs, was third.
Techalong is a five-year-old High Tech-Keystone Peaches gelding, trained by David Schneider for owner Ethel Schneider of Factoryville, Pennsylvania. Tom Santeramo, 30, is originally from Plainview, New York and now makes home at Lake Worth, Florida. This is also his first season training a full stable at Pompano.
The FADC members donate their five per cent driving commissions to equine organizations in South Florida, and the club recently surpassed a major milestone of $100,000 given to charitable causes since inception.
Also on the Saturday evening program of harness racing, Dragons Blood was a front end winner in 1:51.3 in the $12,000 purse Open Handicap Pace. Mike Micallef trains and reins the Dragon Again-Canaco Model seven-year-old gelding for Lew Whitaker of Boynton Beach, Florida and Anita Micallef of Pompano Beach. It was his seventh win in 29 trips this year to hike his season's earnings to almost $80,000. Sfumato brushed in for the place spot with Ed Hensley in the bike followed by Pacinello and Rick Plano.
The November 12 card also marked the return from Indiana of trainer Shawn Glassmeyer and driver Jason Dillander, and they combined for a pair of winners on the card with claiming pacers Gibsonontherocks and Sports Reporter. Both are owned by Ingrid Glassmeyer of Greenfield, Indiana.
(Pompano Park)