It's not often that a $4,000 claimer takes the top headline over any Open event, but that was the scenario at Pompano Park on Wednesday night (February 25).
Acton Onelasttime won the $11,500 final of the ‘Optimist’ Late Closing final for $4,000 claiming pacers in the astounding time of 1:51.3.
The six-year-old son of Rambaran, claimed just one week ago by Kevin Wallis, let American Gold and W F N battle for supremacy through a :26.4 opening quarter and then made a sharp quarter move to the top and recorded panels of :54.3 and 1:22.4 en route to a :28.4 finale to score by eight and a quarter lengths over W F N (driven by Mickey Mc Nichol). Allamerican Extra (Aaron Byron) was third with American Gold and Elkhorn Damien annexing the final two awards in the field of nine.
The victory was the 26th in 89 lifetime starts for Acton Onelasttime and proved to be his richest career payday. The time of 1:51.3 also annihilated his former mark of 1:54.
Wallis mused this after the race: "Gee, he won himself out in one week – 1:51.3! He had been off for some time (since last July) and was just getting back. He won two starts back in a '4' (claimer) in 1:54.3 so I decided to take a chance and claim him in his next start. The early pace was hot so I thought there might be a breather during the second quarter so that's when I sent him. When he got started, he forgot to stop...pretty amazing!"
Acton Onelasttime pushed his 2015 scorecard to 4-2-1-0 with the win, good for earnings of $8,950 and $82,118 lifetime.
As the 3-5 choice on the tote board, Acton Onelasttime paid $3.20 to win.
In the $12,500 Open Trot, Bloodstockshalltab, deftly handled by Ed Hensley, took top honours for the second week in a row with a 1:54.4 win measuring three-quarters of a length over the fast-closing Its Payday Friday (Dan Clements).
The five-year-old son of Cantab Hall left "half-heartedly" letting Holy Halibut rush to the top early before going into full throttle around the initial turn to secure the lead prior to the :28 opener. A :30 second-quarter breather actually sealed the deal as Hensley sent his charge grinding through a final half of :56.4 for the repeat.
Nothinbutanallstar (Mark O'Mara) finished third after trying to apply a tourniquet on the leader around the final turn. Holy Halibut did finish fourth in his first start back in four months. Coco Lindy picked up the nickel in the sextet.
After the race, Hensley said, "When I was able to grab a hold of him once we got to the top, that helped a lot. When a trotter of his caliber gets to the half soft like that (:58), it's usually a good sign...for the leader, that is! He was getting stronger and stronger all the way home."
A recent purchase by Hensley, Bloodstockshalltab now is 5-3-1-0 for the new owner, good for $20,842. The win also pushed his lifetime earnings over the $200,000 mark--$201,587 to be exact.
Bloodstockshalltab paid $3.40 to his many faithful.
The co-featured $10,000 trot went to Winemaster Hanover, with Dave Ingraham, pulling off gate-to-wire upset at 16-1.
The five-year-old son of Donato Hanover had a clear lead throughout much of the journey. The winning margin was a half length over the late-surging And Heez Perfect (Bruce Ranger) in 1:55.
My Revenuer (Tom Sells) was a fast-closing third while Buddy Hally rallied from a miscue early to finish fourth. Majestic Won finished fifth in the octet after a backstretch brush that left him two lengths back of the Winemaster around the final turn.
Trained by Randy Bickmore for owner Kevin Gee, Winemaster Hanover now has $16,012 on his card after his third win in six starts this year. He has banked $86,268 lifetime.
Winemaster Hanover paid $35.40 to win.
(Pompano)