Red Hot Yankee, an invader from Indiana owned, trained and driven by Ed Hensley, made his first appearance at Pompano Park a winning one when he captured the $10,000 Open 1 Pace on Saturday night.
The nine-year-old son of Artsplace snuck through along the pylons at mid-stretch to first get by the leading Special Strides (Rick Plano) and then held off the ferocious close of the even money favourite, Lyons Johnny (Wally Hennessey), to win by a half length in 1:51.3.
No Monkeys Allowed (Kevin Wallis) closed from the back of the pack to finish third while B N Bad finished fourth after a first-over bid around the final turn. Special Strides picked up the "nickel" in the field of six after carving up panels of :27, :55.1 and 1:23.
In a post race interview, driver Hensley said, "This horse seems to live up to his name -- he's 'red hot' all the time. He loves to race on the front end, but Rick's horse [Special Strides] left right out from the outside and he had the upper hand, angle wise, to get to the top. Was my horse relaxed? Not on your life. He was hot racing in the two-hole the whole way, never relaxed and when we found some room mid-stretch, we just were able to get through."
For Red Hot Yankee, it was his seventh win of the year in 22 starts and sent his yearly bankroll to $53,628.
Pompano Park also hosted the C. K. G. Billings Trot, featuring many of the leading drivers on that amateur circuit.
At the conclusion of that 1:58.4 mile, it was veteran amateur driver Dein Spriggs in the winner's circle after piloting his own newly acquired Herecomesthechief to a wire-to-wire win measuring three and three-quarter lengths.
Claim Jumper (Matt Zuccarello) rallied from far back to finish second while Pacific Cyclone (Paul Suchow) finished third after chasing the winner throughout the mile through fractions of :28, :57.2 and 1:28. Millbrook Millie (Anthony Verruso) rallied from ninth to finish fourth with Hes My Man (Steve Oldford) finishing fifth in the field of 10.
For Herecomesthechief, a son of Here Comes Herbie trained by Allen Saul for the owner-driver, it was his seventh win of the year in 26 starts.
The C. K. G. Billings Amateur Driving Club honours the industrialist who was the principal of the Peoples Gas Light & Coke Company of Chicago when that city was lit, primarily, by gaslight. Mr. Billings retired from the company a multi-millionaire in 1901 -- age 40 -- and went on to develop a grand stable of horses, including our sport's very first 2:00 trotter, Lou Dillon. He passed away in 1937 in Santa Barbara, California, where many of the streets in that city are named after his most famous horses.
(Pompano Park)