No Bad Dreams, driven by Wally Hennessey, proved to be a nightmare for his competition in Pompano Park's $9,000 Winners Over Pace on Saturday night as the four-year-old son of Dream Away led at every pole in scoring a lifetime best equalling victory in 1:50.3.
Johnny Grippa, in the garden spot all the way, finished second for Bruce Ranger while Whos Your Maddy, teaming up with Robbie Hoffman, finished third. Hillybilly was fourth in the mile while Canadian Touch finished fifth, only to be disqualified after causing interference to Cartoonist, eventually awarded the minor award in the sextet.
Carding fractions :26.4, :54.4 and 1:22.4 along the way, No Bad Dreams sealed the issue with a :27.4 finale prompting Hennessey to say, upon reaching the winner's circle, "Marc [trainer Aubin] has this horse razor sharp right now...I mean razor sharp! He's very handy, you know, like last week, when he won from off the pace and, this week, on the motor. I decided to leave with him because I didn't want to spot the field six lengths as the start. You never want to do that with a talented field like this. So, I though I'd go looking for a spot...and I found one...on the lead! He raced giant."
Trained by 81-year-young Marc Aubin for Jacalyn and Dan Boddie, No Bad Dreams won for the fifth time in only seven starts this semester, good for $19,050, soundly surpassing his earnings for all of the 2014 season consisting of 20 starts.
As second choice in the wagering, No Bad Dreams paid $5.80 to his faithful.
Pompano Park's mandatory Super Hi-5 payout is all set for Wednesday night as the 2-5-3-4-7 combo on Saturday night returned $377.58 for a 20-cent investment sending the carryover to $202,965 and setting up a mid-week pool that could grow to $400,000 or more. Post time is 7:30 p.m. for the Wednesday program and features an 11-horse field going postward in the Super Hi-5 10th race.
(With files from Pompano Park)