Tempus Seelster and Enzio captured their respective feature events at Pompano Park on Tuesday (April 27) while Dave Ingraham hot a "grand slam" as he drove four winners on the card.
Tempus Seelster and Ingraham teamed to take the $13,000 Open Mare Pace, using a :27.4 final quarter to edge by the pacesetting favourite Prairie Westerngal in the final strides to score by three-quarter lengths in 1:53.1. Beach Journey, in the garden spot all the way, finished third a length away, while Roll With Angel was fourth after a ground-saving journey and Tale Abit Of Life rallied from last turning for home to pick up the nickel.
Tempus Seelster, the gallant eight-year-old daughter of Big Jim, was actually away last in her septet as Prairie Westerngal took the field through a :27 opener before relaxing over to a :57 half with Beach Journey second and Casies Believer away third, already on the prowl first up. At this stage, Tempus Seelster, who pulled under the wire the first time, was third over and sixth, still about four lengths off the pace. As things quickened on the backside, Tempus Seelster was unable to dent as the third panel of :27.4 brought the leader to the third station in 1:24.4
That's when Ingraham sent his mare widest of all and began mowing her competition down with her explosive final quarter.
After the race, the humble Ingraham said, "To tell you the truth, she'd been very good the last three starts that I drove her with her final quarters in the 27-and-a-half range. Rob (trainer Rittof) has her consistently sharp and he always said that she's got one big brush and she was just a bit better than the others but, make no mistake, this is a very evenly matched class."
The win was number 40 for Tempus Seelster in her career with her lifetime bounty edging over the $350,000 by $31.
Owned by Dandy Farms along with FT Racing, Tempus Seelster has a 4-2-3 scorecard in 15 starts and $33,955 in bounty. Off as third choice at 5-1, Tempus Seelster paid $13.00 for the win.
In the $12,500 Open Trot, Enzio, confidently driven by Jim Meittinis, stepped up from a win in the Open II last week to win in this top class in 1:54.4, the same time as last week's win.
Away third in his sextet, the five-year-old altered son of Neely Dunn brushed to the top three-eighths in and held off the late surge of Stick With Me Kid to score by a half length. Burn Notice was third after looming boldly around the final bend with the favorite, The Lionking AS, fourth with Gemologist picking up the minor award.
The Lionking AS began his journey from the outside post and rushing forward to take charge early and speed to an opening panel of :27.1, yielding to Stick With Me Kid at that marker with Enzio next but on the winning move to take charge and post subsequent times of :55.2 and 1:25.1 in progress to the win—his third of the year in 13 starts.
Trained by Kelly Paver, who co-owns with Julie Davis, Enzio paid $6.00 to win as third choice and now has $22,185 in 2021 bounty.
The $10,000 Open II-III handicap went to Creekside Pete, driven by Ingraham for trainer Leon Cable, who does the conditioning for owner David Jarvis.
The five-year-old gelded son of Uncle Peter took charge early and held off the challenge of Purpose Blue Chip along the pylons and Simply Volo on the outside, to score by a neck in 1:56.1. Creekside Pete has banked $26,885 this semester with this win pushing his lifetime bankroll within $72 of $100,000.
As the 9-5 favourite, Creekside Pete paid $5.80 to win but, despite the favouritism in this final leg of the Pick-5, that wager went unscathed resulting in a carryover of $23,759.47 for the Sunday program—the last for the season—with a $100,000 guaranteed pool put on the table for the finale.
Besides Tempus Seelster and Creekside Pete, Ingraham was in the bike back of Deli-Craze, who was off as the longest proposition in his field at 34-1. Owned and trained by Kelly Case, Deli-Craze, an eight-year-old gelded son of Crazed, knifed through between rivals to reward his faithful with a $71.60 mutuel which, eventually, provided yet another carryover--this one in the Pick-6--of $4,865 for the Sunday program.
Ingraham's final win came in the Super Hi-5 finale when he piloted Steve Farrell's Rocksapatriot ($5.80) to a 1:54.2 win giving trainer Kelly Case a training double.
The Super Hi-5 for Sunday will also feature a mandatory payout with that carryover now at $20,234.33.
Another highlight on the card was the 200th win of the meeting for Wally Hennessey, who piloted Halliwell Hanover ($24.00) to a win in the pentafecta fourth, keying a 20 cent payoff of $1,089.76 for the 9-7-1-5-6 combo.
With the $100,000 guaranteed pool in the Pick-5 and mandatory payouts in the Pick 6 and Super Hi-5, Sunday's post time for the finale will be 7:20 p.m. (EDT).
(Pompano Park)