With a reset of the stats page at the start of this month for the Spring/Summer session at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park, it's already a virtual certainty that Dan Clements and Bruce Ranger will dominate the driving colony in South Florida for the final 10 weeks of the meet
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Only two weeks into the current meet, Clements has surged to the top of the drivers' standings by winning with more than one-third of his mounts. On the Wednesday evening, May 16 program, he notched his 19th and 20th winners of the meet with trotting mare Wildfire in the $8,500 purse Open Handicap Trot and with promising Florida-bred three-year-old colt pacer Gold Star Spike. Pompano's perennial leading driver, Bruce Ranger, is a close second and only two wins behind.
The 48-year-old Clements has competed seasonally in Florida and his native Ontario for several decades. This Saturday night with at least seven scheduled appearances, Clements will become the first driver to surpass $60,000 in purse earnings in just the first three weeks of the Spring/Summer meet.
Trotting specialist trainer Gaston Glaude had a night to remember on the May 16 card in South Florida as a pair of high producing mares from his barn turned in stellar winning efforts.
Leading the Glaude stable charge was Ornellaia Dream with a final half field circling effort to earn a life's mark of 1:56 in the $7,500 purse Isle Mile-2 Open Trot. Glaude is also the owner of the Fortuna Winner-Ornellaia seven-year-old mare. She's won seven of 17 starts this year to push her life's bankroll to more than $107,000.
Just two races later, Glaude's Feel L A was a commanding front-end winner in a $6,500 purse conditioned trotting test in 1:56.2. The nine-year-old mare by Feel Like A Winner from Keystone Nocturne is returning to the form of 2011, which saw her win more than half of her 26 starts and step to a speed mark of 1:54.4. Feel L A will increase her career earnings to more than $190,000 with her next purse cheque.
For the Preakness on Saturday, May 19, the horse racing simulcast area in the Isle Casino has an early opening of 11 a.m. The racetrack grandstand will be open for simulcasting at 1 p.m. leading up the regular Saturday night live harness racing card.
(Pompano Park)