Four divisions of the $63,000 Melvyn Aylor Memorial for two-year-olds and the outstanding pacer Bandolito headline a strong 12-race Sunday night program at Pompano Park.
The four Aylor events — three of which are non-betting — feature Gold Star Briana in the trotting filly event, Rexamillion in the colt/gelding trot, Prairie Sweetheart in the event for pacing fillies and Gleneagles in the event for pacing colts and geldings, all of which have been dominant since the beginning of the Florida Stakes season.
Gold Star Briana, a daughter of Basil trained by Dan Hennessey for owner Kevin Kelly, is a perfect five-for-five in her young career, although one of those wins was by disqualification. She’s looking to add to her current earnings of $26,938 in this event worth $15,400. Wally Hennessey is expected in the bike back of the youngster.
Rexamillion is on a bit of a roll on his own with three straight wins. This altered son of Proud Bushy comes off of a solid win in the $28,950 Stallion Stakes and seeks the major share of his $15,400 event for driver Bob Roberts, who will, once again, be in the bike for trainer Kim Sears, who co-owns with husband Jay Sears and Richard Dunmire.
Prairie Sweetheart, owned by Laurie Poulin and John Spindler along with trainer Mike Deters, is also a perfect five-for-five this year with earnings of $27,724. This daughter of Royal Millennium seeks to add to that total in her $16,500 event.
On the card, as the second race, is the Aylor division for the juvenile pacing colts and geldings. While Gleneagles is a perfect four-for-four since arriving at Pompano Park, two of those events were photo finishes, including the last one when Conmans Dream got within a neck of the winner in 1:55.3. Gleneagles is a son of Mysticism trained by Jim Mc Donald for the Pinhook Stables. Thus far, he’s banked $37,198 and looks to add to that total in this event worth
$15,700.
Pompano Park’s Open Handicap Pace features Bandolito. The outstanding five-year-old son of Ponder is the author of 23 lifetime victories in just 57 lifetime starts—eight of those wins under 1:50. Though he has a mark of 1:48, many racing aficionados believe his most astonishing performance was a victory in 1:48.2 featuring a final half-mile in an amazing :52.1, accomplished last season.
But with $418,110 in lifetime bounty, Bandolito, owned and trained by Jenny Bier, is not the richest performer in this multi-million dollar field of seven. That honour belongs to Duc Dorleans, the five-year-old son of Shanghai Phil, having amassed $578,185 thus far in his career.
Bandolito will have the driving services of Kevin Wallis while Duc Dorleans will have Donald Dupont handling the lines.
Archetto Hanover, Lyons Johnny, Next Thing Smoken, Hurricane Howard and Play It Again Sam complete the very talented field.
Post time for the Sunday program is 7:30 p.m., with a $10,000 guaranteed pool for the Pick 4 sequence encompassing races six through nine. The track’s finale features a Super Hi-5 event with a carryover of $4,694.
(With files from Pompano Park)