Pompano Park offered duel features on Wednesday night (May 10) with Sailer Eddie annexing the $10,000 Open Handicap Trot and the Ontario-owned Spilling The Beans eking out a photo finish win in the $9,500 Open Handicap Pace for mares.
Sailer Eddie, given a heady drive and classic rating by Dave Ingraham, took top honours in the trotting feature by scoring a near gate-to-wire win in 1:55.1, holding off his late charging stablemate, Keystone Bodacious, handled by Kevin Wallis, by three-parts-of-a-length. Chocolate Xplosion, with Alessandro Spano in the bike, finished third, one and a half lengths away while Legend Field finished fourth. Groovey Kid, suffering from a miscue at as the gate left the station, did manage to finish fifth while Commentary finished last in the sextet after “self-destructing” with a miscue of his own while in the garden spot past the opening quarter.
At the outset, Commentary and Sailer Eddie both were in search of the lead with the latter assuming control heading into the initial turn and taking the field through a quick :27.1 opener. As Commentary went off stride, Chocolate Xplosion moved up a notch into second as Ingraham rated Sailer Eddie through a :30.1 second panel, reaching the half in :57.2. The pace picked up during the third quarter thwarting any serious backside bids and, turning for home, Sailer Eddie had stolen away to a two and a quarter length lead. Chocolate Xplosion was unable to mount a serious threat in the lane and Keystone Bodacious, out from third, was gaining, but not enough to dent the leader’s margin significantly.
After the race, Ingraham remarked, “You know, this horse just seems to love leaving from the five post.
“Tonight, I sent him and was lucky to get a nice breather during that second quarter. When a horse as good as this one gets away with something like that, he’s always dangerous and, tonight, he was really sharp.
“I’m glad we were one slot in from Kevin [Wallis]' other horse [Keystone Bodacious] because getting the jump on him helped our cause.”
The win pushed Sailer Eddie’s 2017 scorecard to 5-3-0 in 14 starts, good for $30,510. Lifetime, the seven-year-old has 22 wins and $369,951 in bounty.
As the 2-1 second choice, Sailer Eddie paid $6.20.
The win for Spilling The Beans in the Open Pace for mares was quite a different story as this five year-old daughter of Camluck survived late challenges from both sides of the fence -- Goldstar Rockette on the outside and Sues Night out along the pylons.
Driven by Kevin Wallis, Spilling The Beans assumed control in the first couple of strides and carved out panels of :26.1, :56.3 and 1:24.1 before a :27.4 finale was good enough to hold Goldstar Rockette (Dave Ingraham) safe by that aforementioned nostril, with Sues Night Out (Wally Hennessey) another head back in the photo. Machin Marley finished fourth, one and a half lengths away, while Metro Glide was fifth in the field of six.
In a post-race interview, Wallis remarked, “This mare seems to like being on the front end and, tonight, she really wanted to be on the lead.
“The first quarter was all pretty fast [:26.1] so I thought that might take a bit of sting out of her but she went on.
“It was a pretty impressive mile.”
Trained by Dan Morrissey for owner George Robinson of Windsor, Ont., Spilling The Beans won for the fourth time in only seven starts this year with her earnings now at $17,865 for the season.
As the 8-5 second choice, Spilling The Beans returned $5.20 to win.
In other action, Tom Petri's rugged trotting gelding, My Revenuer, driven by Bryce Fenn, won the $8,000 Open 2 Trot, conquering the outside eight post and seven rivals in 1:55.1.
The nine-year-old son of Revenue S made a bold move from seventh three-eighths into the mile and began grinding forward, reaching the lead around the final turn and sprinting home a handy winner -- three and a half lengths -- over Skyway Pippen (Joe Sanzeri) with Flashy Lady (Tim Maier) third. Ill Tell You What and Stryker Ace picked up the final awards in the field of eight.
My Revenuer won for the fifth time this year in 16 starts, good for $30,395. He's won 34 times in a career measuring 194 starts with earnings vaulting to $260,954.
Off as the 7-2 second choice, My Revenuer paid $9.60 to win.
Racing continues on Sunday with a Super Hi-5 carryover of well over $21,000 awaiting. Post time is 7:20 p.m.
(With files from Pompano Park)