Pompano Beach, FL…May 17, 2018…Hall of Fame harness racing driver Wally Hennessey put on a hall of fame performance at Pompano Park on Wednesday night (May 16), winning six of his seven driving assignments.
In pushing his Pompano Park seasonal total to an astounding 219, Hennessey improved on his already lofty "Ty Cobb" like UDRS of .405 coming into the action, while improving his winning percentage to over 26%.
He took the opener with Northern Dali ($3.40), finished third in the second race, and, after sitting out in race three, captured the remaining five races on the eight race program, winning with Just Like Lloyd ($5.20), Metro Glide ($3.60), Vodkancaviar ($6.80), Pink Gardenias ($3.60) and William Star ($3.20).
Hennessey now has won 9,696 races during his Hall of Fame career.
His heroics enabled trainers Gaston Lareau and Jamie Daley to attain training doubles with Lareau's successes being with J P Houle Stables Northern Dali and Lareau Stables own Metro Glide while Jamie Daley enjoyed winner's circle ceremonies with the Mike White and Dale Gilmour owned Just Like Lloyd and David Linker's Vodkancaviar–both enjoying their first win of the season.
Reflecting on the night, a humble Hennessey said, "It's OK to give me credit for getting them home but, when you get catch-drives like this, it's very important to give credit to the trainers and caretakers of these horse getting them ready to go to the gate and perform at their best.
"You never know how they'll be going to the gate, so, tonight, besides Gas (Gaston Lareau) and Jamie (Daley), both (Tom) Bigler (James) Quinn had their horses ready to race tonight. So, they and their caretakers are really the ones what deserve the credit."
Racing continues on Sunday night with post time set at 7:20. The Super Hi-5 Finale has a carryover of $12,232.
by John Berry for Pompano Park