Things went a little better than expected when a new classification system was rolled out for the first time at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park on the Wednesday, March 28 program
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"We're really pleased at the more generous payouts and keen competition this method produced for us on the first night we offered it," said John Yinger, Director Of Racing Operations at the South Florida track. "About the closest comparison would be the A,B,C,D system of classifying horses at the discretion of the racing office and management. The adaptation our Racing Secretary Greg DeFrank has implemented is to still have the flexibility to offer claiming and conditioned races too.
"The feedback from our horsepeople today, and the patrons I spoke with in the grandstand tonight, is a unanimous thumbs up. We're calling our classifications the Isle Mile 1, Isle Mile 2, and so on," he added. "In the first two Isle Mile events on Wednesday night we had a $33.20 winner (Same Page, driver Wally Hennessey) and a $29.80 winner (My Revenuer, driver Doug Brown) so it's certainly met our goals of improving payouts and competition."
In the $8,000 purse Isle Mile 1 trotting feature on Wednesday evening yet another generous payout resulted from a logical contender. Wildfire, Florida's Trotting Mare Of The Year in 2011, parked out heavy favourite Smokin Dabra to the quarter in :27.4 over the track rated sloppy. In the stretch, Smokin Dabra, in rein to Norm Dessereault, tired just enough in his return race after three months off to allow driver Dan Clements enough clearance for Wildfire to skim the pylons and get up in time in 1:57.4. The reward to her backers was a 7-2 win mutuel even though she'd taken a 1:55.2 life's mark in her previous start. Prairie Big John, driven by Tom Sells, was third.
Wildfire, a five-year-old mare by Famously-Giant Wonder, is trained by Joe Kroll for owners Leah and Ron Schaefer of Weirsdale, Florida. She's banked over $20,000 in 2012 and over $67,000 in her career.
(With files from Pompano Park)