Pompano Park opens on Sunday, October 2 for its 53rd season – a 126-night stand that will conclude on May 30, 2017.
The track will offer a ‘lavish wagering buffet,’ including a Pick 5 beginning with Race 1, a Pick 6 encompassing Race 3 through 8, and a Pick-4 that will cover Race 6 through 9.
The popular pentafecta will be conducted on the fourth race, while the Super Hi-5 will, as usual, be contested in the finale on every program.
The fourth-race pentafecta will feature a 100 per cent carryover if no tickets are sold on the winning combination, while the Super Hi-5 will pay the entire pool only if one unique ticket has the winning combination. Should there be multiple winners in the Super Hi-5, each would share in a 50 per cent net pool payout with 50 per cent being carried over to the next Super Hi-5.
The Pick-6 will have a 75 per cent carryover if their is no ticket sold on the winning combination, meaning there will be a 25 per cent consolation shared among those with the next highest total of winners selected.
Brett Revington, direcctor of racing said, "We are optimistic that the new season will be a great one and our 'lavish wagering buffet' should attract interest throughout North America.
"Our Pick-4 will start out with a $7,500 guaranteed pool and features a takeout of only 12 per cent, making it a most attractive offering to our fans.
"The Pick-5 will offer a new $1 minimum wager while the Pick-6 will feature 50-cent boxes and wheels."
The 2016-2017 meeting is also featuring no less than 15 late closing events, including three with estimated purses exceeding $100,000 – the Open Pacing Series, the Open Trotting Series and the Open for pacing fillies and mares.
The opening night of racing will feature a 12-race pari-mutuel program highlighted by an ‘Open’ event for the top early arrivals at the track. Third-round action of the FSBOA Sunshine State Stakes will be on the card as well – the first two legs will be contested over the Sunshine Meadows oval in mid-September.
In the Open, Rockntouch, trained by Mickey McNichol for owners Fred Monteleone and Salvatore Promuto, will return to Pompano Park from a summer at Pocono Downs. The four-year-old son of Rock N Roll Heaven won three of his last four starts as the Pompano meeting ended in May, including a lifetime-best 1:51.3 performance in his last start at Pompano.
In Sunshine State Stakes action, Amante Standardbreds’ Famous C, a two year-old daughter of Famously trained by Marc Aubin, will put her unblemished two-for-two record on the line in the juvenile trot.
Famous C knocked five seconds off of her maiden win at Sunshine Meadows with a 2:00.3 score for Wally Hennessey, who is expected back in the sulky Sunday night.
In the Sunshine State Stakes for three year-old trotting for colts and geldings, Proud Joe T, who is leased and trained by Dave Myrick, will look for his third straight win to keep his 2016 record perfect after a two-for-two start.
The son of Proud Bushy has lowered his mark each start and will look to keep last year's champion, Rexamillion, in his wake for the third straight week. Rob Hoffman is listed to drive, as he did in the gelding’s last pair of wins.
First-race post time for the new meeting has been reset to 7:20 p.m.
(Pompano Park)