Indiana invader Jessesjo, owned, trained and driven by Ed Hensley, eked out a narrow victory in Pompano Park's $10,000 Open 1 Trot on Wednesday night.
The six-year-old altered son of Jailhouse Jesse – who was sent off as the 8-5 second choice on the toteboard despite being winless in six starts this year coming into the competition – went first up from fourth on the backstretch, engaged the leader (Keystone Thomas, driven by Joe Pavia Jr.) heading into the far turn and wore him down in the final strides to win by a neck in 1:55.
Mr McRail (Fern Paquet Jr.) finished a fast-closing third, while Lugar (Tom Sells), who was prominent throughout the event, finished fourth. Jolenes Pinehonker made a miscue while on the move around the far turn and wound up catching only the nickel in the quintet.
In a post-race interview, Hensley said, "Actually, I was pretty surprised at his performance tonight. He had been off a long time and was a little short in his first couple of starts back in Indiana. I let him roll a little bit on the backside and he just kept grinding forward…all the way to the wire. He actually didn't take the turn for home that well – he kind of lost a half length or so there – but he just kept grinding. I am surprised and, of course, very happy with his performance tonight."
Though winless this year, Jessesjo is no stranger to the winner's circle with 17 lifetime victories coming into Wednesday to go along with over $200,000 in lifetime purse earnings.
Hensley continued, "He's got speed alright but, like many athletes, he has his situations. If he was a football player in the NFL, he'd probably be listed as 'questionable' before he starts…and then he goes out and performs like a champ!"
Jessesjo returned $5.40 on a successful Win wager.
In the Open 2 Trot, Illusionsndreams was given a well rated drive by Andy Santeramo to hold off the late charge of Permanent Joy (Rick Plano) by a head in 1:56.3. Jon Win (Bruce Ranger) was a fast-closing third, while Gale Warning and HP Forte picked up the final awards in the field of seven.
Santeramo discouraged early challengers with a :28 opening quarter before rating his seven-year-old son of Kadabra to a half-mile time of :58. As Permanent Joy made the bid on the backside, Santeramo stepped on the throttle and Illusionsndreams reached the third station in 1:26.4 before doggedly holding on in the final stages of the mile.
Owned by Joseph Ferrara along with Steve Maietta, Illusionsndreams won for the fifth time this year in 26 starts to send his yearly bankroll to $48,486 and just a shade under $300,000 lifetime.
Sent off as the second post-time choice, Illusionsndreams returned $6.40 on a successful Win wager.
The Open 3 Trot went to Shes All In for owner-trainer-driver Rick Plano.
The four-year-old daughter of Revenue S came from well back in the field to nail a very narrow nose victory in the final stride in 1:56 for her seventh win of the year. Her consistent scorecard now reads 7-14-2 from 37 starts, good for $68,145 in purse earnings this season.
(With files from Pompano)