It was a classic stretch long duel in the $15,000 weekly Open Handicap Pace on the Saturday evening, April 10 program at the Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park. After surrending the lead early in the stretch, Daley Deposit Only battled back to win
in front end fashion in 1:52.2.
"That horse driven by Wally [Hennessey], Four Starz Bling, was in the pocket and I could hear him snorting on my helmet all the way up the backstretch," winning trainer-driver Dan Daley said in the live post-race TV interview from trackside. "I wasn't surprised when Wally came out early on the last turn and poked a head in front. My horse just gets so lazy when he's on the lead, I had to pluck at him almost the whole way. In the stretch I had to really wake him up and he did his usual thing, he just went all he had to and it was enough to win."
Daley Deposit Only, one of the top earning horses in South Florida thus far in 2010 with over $76,000 on his card this year, laid down all of the fractions in :27.1, :55.3, and 1:24.3. Ownership of the five-year-old Artiscape-Sassy Cessiann gelding is shared by Daley family members Ann-Mari and Jared with Richard Lombardo and Robert Pergament. It was a sultry 75 degree evening which saw the horses battle a strong headwind in the backstretch which turned into a tailwind down the lane. Following Daley Deposit Only and Four Starz Bling under the wire was Omaha Survivor with David Ingraham in the bike.
Again this week, Daley Deposit Only was the only starter in South Florida from the Dan Daley operation. In his post-race interview he gave an update on the rookie performers in his care that are likely to hit the track as two-year-olds at northern venues in the coming months.
"Of the 10 two-year-olds I've been able to train down the way I want to, there are nine of them I'm pretty excited about," Daley said. "They've trained in a range of 2:05 to 2:11 and everything is on track for them to qualify up north in the second week of June."
Less dramatic was the $15,000 Open Handicap Trot as Baseball Express overpowered all of his rivals in 1:55.2. Tom Sells had the six-year-old Conway Hall-Pine Booth gelding out front all the way through quarters of :27.4, :56.3, and 1:26.2 en route to his third straight win for trainer Mike Deters and Ohio owner Kevin Burch. McCoy, in rein to Wally Hennessey, followed in for second and Talk About Me, in rein to Kevin Wallis, was third.
54-year-old horseman Chuck Connor Jr. turned up at Pompano for four drives on Saturday night, including a fourth place finish in the top trot with Ginger Tree Jimmy for trainer-owner Celine Harvey of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Ten-year-old trotter Tweedle Dum, holder of the track's all-time trotting record with a 1:53.2 spin in 2007, racked up his 56th career win for the trainer-owner connections of Diane and Gordon Norris. Tweedle Dum outstepped a $7,000 purse conditioned field in 1:57.1 with David Ingraham in the bike.
Tom Cango won the $10,000 Open-2 Trot in 1:56.1 in rein to Dan Clements for owner Joe Chnapko of New Jersey, with trainer Bill Gallagher disclosing in the post race TV interview that the $130,000 purchase at Harrisburg last fall is slowly returning to form after battling severe gastric ulcers for several months.
(Pompano Park)