The two best pacing mares on the Pompano Park roster -- Just A Bee and Senorita Santanna -- hooked up in a classic duel on Monday night.
While Senorita Santanna won the battle out of the gate, it was Just A Bee, again exquisitely handled by Mike Micallef, who prevailed by three-parts-of-a-length at the end of their 1:51 epic mile.
The 'Queen Bee' left hard from her post four, as did Senorita Santanna from post five with George Napolitano, Jr. handling her lines, with these two wrestling hard for the early lead and the latter assuming control shortly after the opening eighth and zipping to the initial quarter in :26.3.
Reaching the half in :55.2, Senorita Santanna enjoyed a 1-1/2 length advantage over Just A Bee with positions still the same way past three quarters in 1:23.2.
Turning for home, Just A Bee left the coziness of her pocket and began gnawing away at the leader, reaching the lead in mid-stretch and edging away late as Micallef peered back at the main rival as if to say 'so long!'
De Vins Girl finished third for Jason Dillander, 4 1/2 lengths away, while Mach Me Not was fourth over Southwind Trini in the quintet.
In a post race interview, driver Mike Micallef said, "Once again, she went quite a journey. The week off didn't seem to be a bother to her as she has won a couple of times off of a brief vacation. We tussled early so I had no choice but to take the pocket -- not such a bad thing, as she is very handy and does anything asked of her.
"When we turned for home, she proved herself again with a final quarter that had to be in the area of :27.2 or so." (It was) "She raced giant."
Trained by Mike for owners Anita Micallef, John Mc Goff and Greg Heath, Just A Bee, a seven year-old daughter of Mr Feelgood, won for the third straight time and fifth time in seven starts this season, good for $34,750. She now has 30 lifetime victories with a career bankroll of $184,416.
As the 6-to-5 second choice in the betting, Just A Bee paid $4.40 to win.
Two other notable events on the Monday night card were the second leg of the "Happy Wife, Happy Life" Late Closing event for claiming pacing mares and the "Over The Hill Gang" pace for $4,000 claiming pacers 10 years-old and up -- the latter event featuring a field of 10 with combined earnings of almost $3,000,000 on the strength a combined 355 wins in 2,069 lifetime starts.
The "Happy Wife, Happy Life" leg went to Taylor B Good, overcoming her eight rivals from the nine post with a lifetime best equalling 1:53 performance for George Napolitano, Jr.
This six-year-old daughter of Kilowatt, trained by Joe Sanzeri for the J L Benson Stables, came out sprinting from her outside post and clocked panels of :27.3, :57.1 and 1:25.1 before going into yet another gear turning for home, completing her journey with a :27.4 finale to pin a defeat measuring 10 3/4 lengths on Newsmaker, driven by Wally Hennessey. Flying Topless, teaming up with Aaron Byron, was third while Five Stars Queen and Viewish picked up the minors.
Hot property off claims the last two starts, Taylor B Good won for the second straight week and was promptly claimed again this time around, too, with the mare returning to her previous owner, Hilda Wolin, as the final of this late closer looms ahead.
In a post-race interview, driver George Napolitano, Jr. said, "Ya know, in a situation like this, I thought, 'if I don't give it a whirl from here, I'd be 10 lengths back...and I'm don't think that any mare is 10 lengths better than any other here.'"
Turns out that George was both right and wrong.
He was right to 'give it a whirl' but wrong about the '10 lengths' reasoning as the mare won by 10 3/4!
Third choice on the board, Taylor B Good paid $8.80 to her faithful.
The "Over the Hill Gang" pace went to the 11-year-old Shark Dressed Man, driven by Rick Plano, in wire-to-wire fashion stopping the teletimer in 1:53.3 for his first win of the year.
The son of Shark St Partners clocked hot panels of :26.3, :54.3 and 1:23.2 en route to a 4 1/4 length win over the 10-year-old No Shenanigans, handled by Kevin Wallis. Oil Magnet skimmed the pylons and was third under the line but a subsequent disqualification for a pylon violation pushed him back to seventh allowing Allamerican Major to move up one notch to third while Dr Flamingo also was placed up a rung to fourth. Clive Hanover completed the Super Hi-5, which, once again, had several winners cashing a 20-cent ticket worth $444.80 allowing the carryover for Wednesday's Super Hi-5 to swell over the $15,000 plateau.
For Shark Dressed Man, owned by Ernest Durse, it was his 47th lifetime success in 204 career starts, good for bounty of $327,745.
As the 3-to-5 choice, Shark Dressed Man paid $3.20 to win.
(Pompano)