Escuela, deftly handled by Ed Hensley, stretched her winning streak to three with a sharp 1:54.2 win in Pompano Park’s $11,000 Open Handicap Trot on Monday night.
The five-year-old daughter of ABC Garland, owned by the Hensleys—Ed and trainer Ashleigh—overcame the handicap of the outside seven post and six rivals to score her 11th win of the year and 21st lifetime, sending her seasonal bounty to $85,270. She now has career earnings of $162,726.
With five lead changes in the mile, it was Shes All In leaving with alacrity and taking command early with Sailer Eddie also showing speed from the get-go, with the latter taking command at the opener in :27.3. Right at that opening marker, Uriel was on the move from third and brushed to the lead around turn two and took the field to the half in :56. On the backside, Rainbow Gold, out and driving into the second turn, brushed by Uriel midway around the final turn with three-quarters on the board in 1:25.4.
But Escuela, who wended her way into fifth early on, drafted along with that live cover following Rainbow Gold and exploded by turning for home and drew away to score by 3-3/4 lengths. Rainbow Gold was second for Steve Condren, while Ill Tell You What, driven by Brad Kramer, finished third.
Winning driver Ed Hensley stated, “She’s got some motor, doesn’t she? When I set her down for the drive, she just exploded with another of her knockout punches and that was that! She’s feelin’ pretty good right now so we have to enjoy this while we got it. Believe me when I tell you that times like this don’t last forever, so we gotta be thankful!”
As the even-money favourite, Escuela paid $4.20 to win.
Also on Monday night, Hall of Fame driver Wally Hennessey was honoured after the third race for achieving a milestone of $60 million (US) in purses for the many owners that have benefitted from his driving skills over the past four decades.
Hennessey, once again, is closing in on 200 wins for the year, a plateau he has accomplished in 26 different seasons--his career total now approaching 8,900.
He celebrated the occasion by sweeping the early daily double, first, driving Paul and Patricia O’Neil’s Verdi to a popular win in the Monday night opener and, following that, a wire-to-wire win with Goldstar Classic, owned by Tim Rzepka, Kevin Kelly, Joseph Connors and Vincent Giorlando—both winners trained by Dan Hennessey.
(Pompano Park)