Waiting On A Woman, 'handicapped' with the outside nine post, once again, dominated his competition by scoring an ever-so-easy victory in Pompano Park’s Open 1 Trot on Wednesday night.
The five-year-old gelded son of Northern Bailey, driven by Wally Hennessey, took control of the festivities as the Hummer Starting Gate closed its wings, clocked comfortable fractions of :28.2, :57.4 and 1:27 and coasted home untouched in :28.1 to stop the timer in 1:55.1.
Actually, Waiting On A Woman was waiting for two women. Mares Shes All In (Rick Plano) and Blushing Hanover (Mickey McNichol) were next throughout the affair, but Waiting On A Woman left them in his wake in the stretch, the winning margin two and a half over Shes All In and three and a quarter lengths over Blushing Hanover. Lugar and My Revenuer picked up the final two awards.
“Really, there’s not much to say," commented Hennessey in a post-race interview. "He’s just in great shape right now and, being such a big horse (17 hands), an outside post helps him momentum wise around the first turn.”
“When the gate’s wings closed, the big guy opened his wings up and flew out of there," said an elated Travis Kolaczynski, trainer of the winner. "It was pretty awesome. I give a lot of credit to his caretaker, Andrea Siegel, who does such a great job with him.
Owned by the New Jennaration LLC, Waiting On A Woman now has won six from seven starts and $29,250 in 2013 to send his lifetime bounty to $104,620.
In other news, Pompano Park is preparing for its quintet of Sunday night racing programs beginning March 3 and continuing throughout the month.
Director of Racing John Yinger is expecting an enthusiastic response to Sunday racing.
“Sunday night racing adds yet another positive dimension to racing here in South Florida," he said. "With our Pick 4 wager now offering the lowest takeout in pari-mutuel history — 10 per cent -- I expect that more racing fans will take notice of our programs. And we’ll be offering our guarantee on the Sunday night Pick 4 as well.”
The revised March racing calendar now includes racing on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays with post time at 7:05 p.m.
Pompano also announced that the legendary announcer Larry Lederman will call the action at Pompano on Sunday, March 3 and Monday, March 4. Lederman is renowned for his wit and humour in calling races, a profession at which he has excelled for three decades.
Also on March 4, the rivalry between east and west continues with the Pro-Am featuring the top drivers -- both professional and amateur -- from Pompano Park and Cal-Expo. Bruce Ranger, Wally Hennessey, Dein Spriggs and Joe Pennacchio will comprise the Pompano lineup while Luke Plano, Steve Wiseman, Dave Siegel and Rick Bertrand will make the 3,500 mile journey from Northern California in hopes of retaining their crown which they narrowly won last year.
Ranger and Hennessey have combined for over 16,500 victories while “amateurs” Spriggs and Pennacchio have over 500 combined victories. The 32-year-old Luke Plano has amassed 2,323 driving wins while Wiseman has chalked up 1,909 lifetime victories. Siegel is winning at a near 20 per cent clip in 2013 -- 258 lifetime wins -- while Bertrand has 42 lifetime wins, one of which was the clincher when the California clan upset the Pompano four in the final event of their competition last year.
(Pompano Park)