Holy Halibut, a seven-year-old son of Holy Guacamolie, easily took top honours in Pompano Park's $12,000 Open Handicap Trot on Wednesday (March 4).
Driven by Matt Romano for owner-trainer Luca Derrico, Holy Halibut never had an anxious moment during his journey once he reached the top around the opening turn and went on to clock panels of :28, :57.2 and 1:26.1 en route to a handy win in 1:55.3.
The winning margin was three quarters of one length over Winemaster Hanover (driven by Dave Ingraham) with Increditable (Kevin Wallis) third. The family team of father Stephen Byron and son Aaron Byron was next with Buddy Hally and Adenium, respectively, in the quintet.
In a post-race interview, Romano said, "Luca (trainer Derrico) had given this one some time off and he was keeping him fit by swimming him. He was pretty decent in his first start last week and didn't give an inch in a quick final quarter, so I was confident he'd be good tonight."
The bettors were confident, too, sending Holy Halibut off at 2-5 on the tote board for a $2.80 win payoff.
Holy Halibut now has 28 lifetime wins from 93 starts, good for $333,749 in purses.
The co-featured $10,000 conditioned trot went to Dukester, who benefitted from a bit of class relief from the top company to score a win which measured two and a quarter lengths for Rick Plano in a seasonal best 1:54.2, just one tick off of his lifetime mark.
The eight-year-old son of Duke Of York was third – badly gapped, though – during the stages as Lugar (Bruce Ranger) took the field to the opening marker in :27.3 before Baby Boy Grin (Kevin Wallis) made his quarter move to the top reaching the half in :56.
Three-eighths of a mile out, Plano sent Dukester rolling and, in a matter of a few long strides, moved on even terms with the leader and then strode off in the moonset for the handy score.
Lugar re-rallied late to finish second while Baby Boy Grin finished third. Tug River Dylan and High Blue picked up the minor awards in the field of seven.
Owned by MaryAnn Plano along with Allyn Jones, Dukester won for the second time this season to send his 2015 bankroll to $20,573. Lifetime, Dukester has 22 wins and $255,098 in bounty to go along with his 1:54.1 mark.
As the overwhelming 1-5 favourite, Dukester paid $2.60 to win.
With the top four betting choices in the top five in Pompano Park's Super Hi-5 – an 80-1 chance was second – the Super Hi-5 had multiple winners on Wednesday night with the carryover going into Saturday's card vaulting over the $20,000 mark. The 2-10-4-5-1 consolation on Wednesday night paid a handsome $1,097.30 for the 20-cent ticket.
Post time for the Saturday night special is 7:30 p.m.
(Pompano)