With the conclusion of the 46th season of live action at The Winter Capital Of Harness Racing many of the South Florida track's competitors take away memories of milestones or record achievements.
Here is a sampling of the 'best of the best' from the 2009-2010 campaign at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park:
* Bruce Ranger, the track's winningest all-time driver, marked the occasion of his 50th birthday shortly after recording 13 wins on a single program for a modern day record.
* $4,000 claiming pacer Rare Bunny won in 1:52.3 with trainer Ray Vizzi in the bike, believed to have been the fastest mile ever by a bottom class claiming horse in track history.
* long-time owner John Campagnulo of Loxahatchee, Florida won with Southern Joy in the opening event of the 2010 C.K.G. Billings Harness Driving Series for avid amateur drivers.
* Canadian Horse Racing Hall Of Fame inductee Doug Brown, a career winner of over 8,200 races in the bike, announced his intention to campaign at Pompano in the 2010-2011 season.
* 53-year-old driver Kevin Wallis guided the mare Trot Your Sox Off to victory for his 9,000th lifetime driving win. Wallis has campaigned in South Florida seasonally for two decades.
* Celebrity Blue Chip, a $170,000 yearling, won his 2010 season's debut in 1:58.2. Trevor Ritchie was in the bike behind the Credit Winner-Precious Lindy son for trainer Staffan Lind and owners Herbert Burns, Stephen Demeter and Celebrity Farms.
* Cammabis, at 1:50.1, was the meet's fastest pacing winner, just one-fifth of a second better than a pair from the Joe Pavia Jr. Stable, which included Esmeralda Semalu and McRyan Michael at 1:50.2. Baseball Express was the meet's fastest trotting winner at 1:53.3.
* the Yonkers-Pompano amateur drivers's showdown ended in a tie. Simeon Hunsdon won for Team Yonkers and Jamie Marra won for Team Pompano.
* 61-year-old Mickey McNichol returned to work in March after missing almost three months due to a triple bypass heart surgery. 50-year-old Richard Simard missed over a month after undergoing an appendix surgery in February.
* 21-year-old driver Matt Kakaley, the youngest reinsman in the sport's history to earn 1,000 wins, made a solid impact in the Pompano driving colony in his first season at the track from late November through mid-March. Matt was in the bike for a 1:52.1 track record performance by three-year-old pacing filly Special Sweetheart to erase the previous category record held by Miss Easy.
* 25-year-old trainer Ryan Bellamy of Indiana surpassed $2 million in career purse earnings. His top horse at the Pompano meet was Tuffery N.
* trainer Mike Deters and driver Peter Wrenn teamed up for four winners on the eve of their induction into the Florida Hall Of Fame of the United States Harness Writers Association.
* Andover America and Alarming Quick shared a 1:55.3 dead heat win in Open Handicap Trot.
* in late February purse increases were announced for almost all classes. The largest increase saw the weekly Open Handicap events on both gaits go from $13,000 to $15,000.
* "Norwegian Power" dominated in the opening event of the 2010 Mildred Williams International Womens' Driving Series as Gro Formia and Ann Larsen won at Pompano.
* Pompano hosted the Roosevelt Raceway reunion group for a winner's circle ceremony. Stepping forward for interviews were Lucien Fontaine and Mike LaChance.
* Wally Hennessey, 53, marked the occasion of 7,500 lifetime winning drives with an off the pace tally behind pacing mare Flip For Love. Hennessey has been a regular in the South Florida driving colony seasonally for almost 25 years.
* George Napolitano Jr., 43, reached 3,500 lifetime winning drives in January.
* David Ingraham, 47, reached 6,000 lifetime winning drives last October with trotter Henrytheeighthiam.
* the 2009 Florida Breeders Super Night on December 5 saw over $325,000 in purses awarded. Two-year-old fillies Pocohontas Fame and Black Diamond Girl shared the $100,000 bonus for sweeping all four of the major Fall stakes in the program.
The 47th season of live action at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park begins on Saturday, October 16, 2010.
(Pompano Park)