![]() |
| Skip Smith |
| Waiting On A Woman continued his current hot streak on Wednesday |
The 5-year-old, gelded son of Northern Bailey took the lead from his outside post as the gate’s wings folded and carved panels of :28, :57.1 and 1:25.1 before striding away from the competition with authority on the strength of a final panel in :28.1 with the winning margin 4-1/4 lengths on the line.
Trained by Travis Kolaczynski for the New Jennaration connections, the win was a new lifetime mark and left trainer Kolaczynski speechless…almost.
“Goosebumps! That’s about all I can say right now,” the trainer said. "I have goosebumps!"
Driver Hennessey then expounded.
“He’s a nice, big horse and he loves this racetrack. It just fits him so well and he really gets around it easily. I never realized he was going that fast. I asked him for a little something when we were midway on the backstretch but, after that, he did this all on his own. He was well within himself at the end of the mile.”
The win for Waiting On A Woman was the fifth in six trips to the post in 2013 -- he’s won 26 of 49 lifetime starts -- sending his yearly bounty to $23,250, more than in all of last season.
As the 3-5 favorite, Waiting On A Woman returned $3.20 win.
In other news from the South Florida oval, Pompano Park has announced that it has received approval to race on Sundays during March, dropping Tuesdays during the month. Sunday post time will be at 7:05 p.m., eastern.
Racing Secretary Greg DeFrank thinks the move will draw attention “to our excellent racing product on a night where there isn’t much else on the harness racing calendar.
“This should further expose our guaranteed Pick-4 wager that offers the lowest takeout in North American history.”
The takeout for the Pick-4 at Pompano Park is 10 percent.
Pompano also announced that the legendary announcer Larry Lederman will call the action at Pompano on Sunday, March 3 and Monday, March 4.
Also on March 4, the rivalry between east and west will continue 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.
Correction: In our Monday press release, it was stated that Abbey Road Hanover set the track record for aged pacing mares with her win in 1:51.3. Her performance should be corrected to show that this was a track record for 4-year-old pacing mares.
The all-age track record for pacing mares is held by Esmeralda Semalu, who as a 2009 5-year-old covered a mile in 1:49.4 on March 9.