Panocchio, driven by Bruce Ranger, ran his winning streak to four on Saturday night with this grand slam win coming in the $10,000 Open Handicap Pace at Pompano Park.
Co-owned by trainer Jim Mattison along with Emile Johnson Jr., the four-year-old son of No Pan Intended stopped the timer in 1:51.4 over a track labeled as ‘good’ after earlier heavy rains. Fractions were :26.3, :56.1 and 1:24 with the margin measuring 2 1/4 lengths over Cartoonist with Flight Exec rallying for third. Neptune Blue Chip was next with Canadian Touch, prominent early on, picking up the nickel in the quintet.
In a post race interview, driver Bruce Ranger summed it up in two words: "smooth sailing.
"Yes, he had missed a week," Ranger said, "but Jimmy (trainer Mattison) and Vicki (Jim's wife) keep this horse sharp just by the great care they give him. I knew he'd be ready and, indeed, he was ready to fire as soon as the gate opened. Once we got that little breather during the second quarter, I just let him ramble on from there and his last half of :55 and a piece (actually :55.3) took care of things."
Not only did Panocchio remain undefeated this year with his fourth straight win, it was his 12 success in only 29 lifetime starts, good for $67,625 - $18,750 already this year just in the past month.
Panocchio paid $2.80 to win.
Panocchio's victory, by the way, was one of five on the night for Ranger, who also piloted Directly Related ($2.60), Dominum Deo ($3.20), Hyperion Hanover ($2.60) and Kennairnmachmagic ($3.60) to the winner's circle.
Hyperion Hanover, the 11-year-old warrior owned by the S S G Stables and trained by Jim McDonald, was a wire-to-wire winner in 1:54.3, scoring a win measuring just short of a length in the $6,000 Open "3" over Mcgreat with Tom Paine third.
The victory was the 51st in Hyperion Hanover's illustrious career, sending his lifetime bounty to $1,166,089 covering 261 starts.
In the $7,500 Open "2" Pace, Elizabeth Zimmerman's Avantage, driven by Dave Ingraham for trainer Michel Plouffe, also was a gate-to-wire winner, scoring a 1:53.1 win measuring a length over the fast closing Whos Your Maddy. Shamderock was third after looming boldly first over around the final turn.
Third choice on the tote-board, Avantage paid $9.80 to win in picking up his third win of the year - and second in a row - sending his lifetime bounty to $218,296.
(Pompano Park)