The "dare" was "catch me if you can!"
They didn't!
Prairie Jaguar capped off a career season on Saturday night with a powerful win in 1:50 in the $13,000 Open Handicap for driver Peter Wrenn.
The six-year-old son of Spy Hard, owned by Laurie Lee Poulin along with trainer Mike Deters, virtually wired the competition this night, scoring his sixth victory at Pompano Park in 1:50 or faster -- the most of any horse in the track's history.
This was textbook.
Leaving from post four in his septet, Prairie Jaguar rocketed out of the gate and, after a brief tussle with Fancyfreesharp (Bruce Ranger) and his stablemate E Z Noah (Aaron Byron), won the battle to the opening quarter timed in :26.1.
The pace hardly softened during the next two markers with the "Jaguar" at the half in :53.4 and three-quarters in 1:21, with E Z Noah second and Fancyfreeshark next.
Though Thatll Be The Rei (Mike Micallef) tried to apply some pressure the final three-eighths of a mile brushing from fourth, his valiant effort fell a length and a half short when the final time of 1:50 popped up on the board.
Fancyfreeshark did finish third while Cadillac Phil wound up fourth. Northern Companion managed to pick up the final cheque.
In a post race interview, Wrenn said, "They say the jaguar is one of the fastest animals on earth. This "Jaguar" proved that tonight. He was absolutely awesome tonight. He was all-too-willing leaving the gate and showed the determination of a great horse when the competition started to close in. He did it all by his lonesome tonight...I was just a passenger."
The win was the 11th of the year in a busy season covering 37 starts pushing his yearly bounty to $106,605 -- his most successful season ever.
As the 5-2 third choice to Thatll Be The Rei (2.10 to 1) and the Fancyfreeshark-E Z Noah entry (2.20 to 1) in the betting, Prairie Jaguar paid $7.40 to his many $2 followers.
Racing continues at Pompano Park Sunday night with a $5,000 guaranteed Pick 4, with that guarantee ballooning to $10,000 for the Monday and Tuesday programs. Also, the Super Hi-5 went unscathed again on Saturday night and now sports a carry forward of well over $12,000 going into the Sunday night program. Post time is 7:30 p.m.
(With files from Pompano Park)