Image Of A Dream, driven by Rick Plano, snagged victory from the jaws of defeat in the $14,200 Open Pace for mares on Wednesday night (Feb. 16) at Pompano Park, taking a nose decision over Brilliant Beauty (Kevin Wallis) in 1:53.2.
LA Always Amartini (Joe Chindano Jr.) finished third, less than a length away, while Crisp Mane finished fourth. Roll With Angel, closing fastest of all after being shuffled to last on the backstretch, picked up the nickel in the closely knit sextet.
With a racetrack listed as 'sloppy' due to prolonged moderate to heavy rain, Image Of A Dream got in a brief early war off the wings with Brilliant Beauty before taking charge around the initial turn and taking the field through a quick opening panel of :27.1. The top two positions remained unchanged to the half, clocked in :56.2, with only LA Always Amartini on the move to fifth halfway through.
On the backside, the pace accelerated once more with Image Of A Dream breaking the beam at the third station in 1:25 while Brilliant Beauty was still cozy in the pocket and LA Always Amartini alongside.
Turning for home, Image Of A Dream drifted out a lane and Brilliant Beauty used that open seam to charge through along the pylons. The latter appeared to stick her nose in front a sixteenth from the wire but Image Of A Dream dug in when it counted and came up off the canvas for the decision.
“Well, I had two choices here," said Plano after the race. "The first was to take back like last week and get mud kicked in my face or, two, leave and, maybe, stay a bit cleaner in this muddy situation. I chose the second one and I had to use my mare a bit more than I wanted but at least I stayed away from the mess.
“We got to the three-quarters pretty swift and, when we turned for home, my mare drifted out just a bit and Kevin’s mare (Wallis’ Brilliant Beauty) gave us all we could handle. In fact, I thought she put her lip in front near the wire. But my mare was pretty tough tonight as she is in almost all of her races!”
Trained by Plano for owner and wife Maryann, Image Of A Dream, a seven-year-old of Rockin Image, won for the second time this semester in seven starts with her 2022 earnings vaulting to $27,690. She’s banked $143,777 lifetime.
Image Of A Dream paid $4.40 to win as the favourite.
Just as Image Of A Dream began the Wednesday festivities by a nose, Ourlittlemiracle completed the bookends for the Open class mares with a similar nose decision in the finale.
The four-year-old daughter of Bettors Delight used a ferocious rally in deep stretch to nail the pacesetting Powered By Mach (Joe Chindano Jr.) on the money in 1:53.1. Rigginswind (Wally Hennessey) was third after pressing the affair the entire final half mile while Primo Extremo and Late Night Date completed the top five in the field of nine.
Ourlittlemiracle, leaving from the rail post, was close up and in a cozy spot all the way as Powered By Mach clipped off panels of :27.1, :56.3 and 1:24.4. Turning for home, Miller found a seam allowing Ourlittlemiracle to start gnawing away to just get up on the wire.
Trained by Devan Miller for the Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi, Ourlittlemiracle notched her second win of the year and ninth of her career to send her earnings to $17,408 this year and $141,227 lifetime.
As second choice in the wagering, Ourlittlemiracle paid $8.00 to win.
One other interesting event taking place on Wednesday night was a rare refund in race three. With two horses seemingly locking wheels prior to the start, the judges deemed that neither got a fair start...and neither did the bettors. Thus, the judges ordered a refund on all wagers that included the two horses in question. The race was won by Meadowbrook Chip (John MacDonald), who crossed the wire first at posted odds of 84-1. After the refunds, the pools were recalculated and Meadowbrook Chip still paid a rousing $111.80 to win. That keyed a $2 trifecta payoff of $4,002.80. Not one winning ticket was had on the superfecta in that event with a rollover to the next superfecta event on the program.
Racing continues on Sunday with an eight-race card featuring the top pacers on the grounds and a $15,000 guaranteed pool on the Pick-4, featuring an industry low 12 per cent takeout. The Super Hi-5 carryover for Sunday has ballooned to $5,341. Post time is set for 7:20 p.m.
(With files from Pompano Park)