Pompano Beach, FL…January 20, 2021…Crisp Mane handled by Hall of Fame harness racing driver David Miller, achieved three "milestones" in winning Pompano Park's $11,500 Open Handicap Pace for mares on Tuesday night, the first being able to finally reach the winners circle after knocking at the door for several weeks.
The five year-old daughter of Sportswriter took charge shortly after the :27.4 opener and proceeded to put of numbers of :55.4 and 1:24 before a :27.4 sprint home sealed the deal in 1:51.4.
Not only was it a new lifetime mark for Crisp Mane, it vaulted her career earnings over the $200,000 plateau to exactly $205,000.
The Australian bred Lucky Artist (Ricky Macomber, Jr.) closed fastest of all–:27.1–to finish second, a half-length away, while the early leader Prairie Westerngal (Wally Hennessey) was next. Tempus Seelster finished fourth while Casie's Believer picked up the nickel in the classy septet.
At the outset, Prairie Westerngal (post 5) roared off the wings into a quick open lengths lead with Lucky Artist (post 4) also showing gate speed to land in the garden spot with Crisp Mane third, but already on the move looking for the lead.
Once she got to the top, Crisp Mane set sharp fractions deterring any threats throughout with her :27.4 finale holding her foes at bay through the wire.
After the race, Miller commented, "last week, I had to go first up with her on the backside and, while she raced real good, I didn't want to do that again, so I decided to go after the lead. Once she got there, she was very solid and still on 'go' at the wire."
Trained by Devan Miller for owner Sylvia Burke, Crisp Mane won for the 12th time in her career and, as the 6 to 5 tote-board favorite, paid $4.60 to win.
Crisp Mane
The Tuesday program also featured the Super Hi-5 finale with a $121,000 carryover and a mandatory payout. The event drew immense interest from the "Send-It-In" army with 215 winning tickets sold on the winning 8-1-7-10-2 combo–each worth a very lucrative $2,003.78 for the 20 cent ticket.
Total handle for the Tuesday 11 race program was $1,362,904, more than $1 million over the comparable night one year ago.
The excitement continues on Wednesday night with a Pick-5 guaranteed pool of $125,000, necessitated when no one was able to solve Tuesday's Pick-5–that carryover being over $28,000.
Wednesday post time is set for 7:20 p.m.
by John Berry for Pompano Park