Pompano Beach, FL--Although Florida is a well-known vacation destination, it was not a particularly welcoming place for the out-of-state drivers in town on Saturday evening (April 28) at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park.
The Pompano-based drivers in the Florida Amateur Driving Club (FADC) swept the top three finish positions in the opening event of the 2012 C.K.G. Billings Amateur Driving Championship Series.
Dein Spriggs made no mistake with 3-5 favorite Genesisjerseyspeed as they made every call a winning one and stepped away from the field with a 29.3 last quarter to stop the clock in 1:58.1. Allen Saul of Pompano Beach owns and trains the 8-year-old S J's Double Take-Jerseys Image gelding, who surpassed $100,000 in lifetime earnings in the $4,500 purse trotting event.
Leon Cable engineered a runner-up finish with longshot Noble Way and John Campagnuolo came from way back in the pack for third with Roman Holiday. Also taking part in the opening event of the Series for this year, in their order of finish, were Anthony Verruso, David Yarock, Stephen Oldford, David Offenberg, Ted Bowman and Joe Faraldo.
Talk To Tony gets redemption
The featured event of the final Saturday night card in April was the $8,500 purse Isle Mile 1 Open Handicap Pace.
Last week, Talk To Tony suffered a photo-finish defeat, but turned the tables this time out in a front-end effort in 1:52 with Wally Hennessey in the bike. Avantage, in rein to Mickey McNichol, went a strong two-move trip to take down the place honors and Kommander Hawk partnered by Dan Daley followed in for third after a pocket trip.
Kim Sears trains Talk To Tony for owners John Campagnuolo of Loxahatchee, Fla., and Jay Sears of Osteen, Fla. The Artiscape-Muggins Hanover 5-year-old ridgling is already enjoying a career best year, with six wins from 13 trips to date in 2012 for more than $32,000 in purse earnings.
Post time change on Wednesday
The current schedule of live racing every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday continues through May. This Wednesday, May 2, post time is moved up 10 minutes to 7:05 p.m. Eastern. The 2011-2012 meet at Pompano concludes with live racing every Wednesday and Saturday in June and July. Free race night live streaming, the racing schedule, handicapping selections by Hall Of Famer John Berry and much more is available at www.theislepompanopark.com.