Pompano Beach, FL…November 14…Prairie Fortune, handled by John Mac Donald, took top honors in Pompano Park's $10,000 Open Handicap Trot on Monday night (November 14), wearing down a very stubborn harness racing arch-rival Boli (Wally Hennessey) in mid-stretch for a one length victory in 1:55.2.
Explosive Muscles (Dave Ingraham) rallied for third while DC Flashback trotted the fastest final panel of all to finish fourth. She's All In, prominent throughout in the garden spot, wound up picking up the nickel in the sextet, separated by less than three lengths at the line.
As the wings folded, Seeking Steven and She's All In both showed early speed with Boli, beginning from the outside post six, on the prowl as well.
At the timer popped up with a :28 opening panel, Boli had wrestled the lead away from She's All In with Seeking Steven third, DC Flashback fourth, Explosive Muscles next and Prairie Fortune the "caboose," seven lengths off the lead but on the move around the second turn and reaching fourth with Boli notching a half time of :57.2.
On the backside, Prairie Fortune kept grinding forward, eventually reaching the saddle pad of Boli once they reached the third station in 1:26.
In the lane, the two arch-rivals battled with Prairie Fortune taking command a sixteenth out and drawing clear at the line.
In a post-race interview, driver John Mac Donald said, "this was a bit easier trip than his last race when I had to use him leaving a bit and then going first up on the backside.
"This week, since there seemed to be a bit of early speed in the race, I let him relax early because he can grind forward an awful long way.
"He just seems to put in a good performance week after week after week. Tonight he put in what I call a stellar performance."
Owned by Laurie Poulin along with trainer Mike Deters, Prairie Fortune, a four year-old son of Arapa Victory, won for the 10th time this year in 24 starts, good for $76,165. Lifetime, the Florida bred has 25 wins in 46 career starts with a bankroll of $189,445.
As the 4 to 5 post-time favorite, Prairie Fortune returned $3.60 to win.
In other Pompano Park news, when Kegler Hanover took the fifth race for Dave Ingraham at 20 to 1, the Pick-5 was left un-scathed and the Tuesday night Pick-5 has a carryover of $1,800 and a guaranteed pool of $7,500.
First post is set for 7:20 p.m.
by John Berry for Pompano Park
