Trotters highlighted the midweek card at Pompano Park on Wednesday night (March 11) with Nothinbutanallstar taking top honours in the $13,500 Open Handicap but having to share the spotlight with Highland Yankee in the $10,000 Open (2) Trot and the 57-1 outsider Ex King in a $9,400 supporting feature.
Nothinbutanallstar, a four-year-old son of Allstar Hall trained and driven by Mark O'Mara for owner Lester Raber, got a picture perfect journey to score in a lifetime-best performance of 1:54.1 and send his lifetime earnings over the $200,000 mark -- $205,964 to be exact.
Dukester teamed up with Rick Plano to finish second after desperately searching for room after being shuffled on the backside. Holy Halibut, prominent early, finished third while the favoured Bloodstockshalltab finished fourth, closing from last to do so.
It was an action-packed mile with Coco Lindy (Wally Hennessey) cutting the first two panels of :26.3 and :56.1 while Winemaster Hanover (Bruce Ranger) went on the attack and Nothinbutanallstar was following the live cover. Reaching the third station in 1:25, Winemaster Hanover stuck his nose in front with Nothinbutanallstar looming boldly then edging by in deep stretch and holding off the late-charging Dukester. Holy Halibut came on through between horses to pick up the show honours.
In a post race interview, O'Mara kept it "short and sweet," saying, "Well, short and sweet, we had a very nice trip following live cover. Not much more to the story than that. When I tipped him wide, he responded just as I had hoped he would. He's quite a racehorse!"
Fourth choice in the betting, Nothinbutanallstar returned $11.60 to his faithful followers.
Highland Yankee, the six=year-old son of Muscles Yankee, used similar tactics as in his last start in stretching his winning streak to two with a 1:57.3 virtual gate-to-wire win for Ed Hensley.
Using a 1:00 middle half breather after a :28.3 opener, Highland Yankee sprinted home in :29 straight to hold the fast-closing Increditable (Kevin Wallis) safe by a half length. Favoured Lugar (Bruce Ranger), in the garden spot all the way, finished third while CJs Rascal rallied for fourth. High Blue picked up the final award in the field of nine.
Trained by Dale Gilmour for owner David Lewis Linker, Highland Yankee won for the second time this year in seven starts to send his 2015 bankroll to $16,385. He's socked away $263,578 lifetime.
As second choice on the board, Highland Yankee paid $8.80 to win.
It was "bombs away" in the $9,400 conditioned trot as Verrazano Stables' Ex King, handled by Dan Daley, upset the applecart as the longest chance on the tote-board -- 57-1 -- keying a 50-cent trifecta payoff of $13,650.
This five-year-old son of CR Excaliber overcame the second tier post to work out a perfect second over journey through fractions of :27.3, :56.4 and 1:26.2, sweeping three-wide turning for home and sealing the issue with a :28.3 finale to score in a lifetime best 1:55.2. His margin was three lengths over the pacesetting Hobsons Choice (Ed Hensley). The late-charging Master Host (Jason Dillander) was third while On The Tab, prominent early on, was fourth with DC Flashback finished fifth after a backside bid that put pressure on the leader around the final turn.
Ex King won for the initial time in 2015 to send his semester earnings to $10,965. His lifetime bounty now stands at $160,292.
Ex King returned $117.60 to win, by far the largest winning mutuel of his career, surpassing the $23.20 win mutuel at Batavia early in his career.
Finally, Pompano Park's Super Hi-5 again had multiple winners on Wednesday night. The carryover for Saturday's card is upwards of $35,000. Post time is 7:30 p.m.
(With files from Pompano Park)