Pompano Beach, FL…June 27, 2015…Raji's Blue Line, handled by harness racing driver Andy Santeramo, dug in late to score a courageous win in Pompano Park's $9,000 Winner's Over feature pace on Saturday night (June 27).
The seven year-old son of Artsplace, owned by Souren Hovsepian along with trainer Rod Lorenzo, had to survive four separate incidents during the mile before stopping the timer in 1:51.2.
Abreathofreshart (Wally Ross, Jr.) was second in the mile while Northern Companion (Tom Sells) finished third. Who's Your Maddy and Histoire Eternelle were next in the sextet while Freeneasy Hanover was doomed at the start after a miscue leaving.
When the gate sprung, Histoire Eternelle (Post 5) was on the engine along with Raji's Blue Line (Post 6) with the former battling the latter through a demanding opener of :26.3 before Raji's Blue Line took over a few strides later. That was the first incident.
Incident number two was that there was not much of a let-up going to the half, with the mid-mile timed in a harsh :54.4 with Histoire Eternelle not in the garden spot…but not for long.
Heading to turn three, Histoire Eternelle was out moving and putting the pressure on the leader past the third station in 1:23.1.
In the lane, Raji's Blue Line put away the challenge of Histoire Eternelle but Abreathofreshart found some room in the lane to close in on the leader during the final stages of the mile–that was incident number four.
But Raji's Blue Line was up to the task and responded with a :28.1 finale to hit the wire a half length to the good.
In a post race interview, driver Andy Santeramo said, "They threw everything but the kitchen sink at him tonight but he just kept digging and digging all the way home. He was very brave tonight."
In achieving his fourth win of the year in 22 starts, Raji's Blue Line sent his seasonal bounty to $41,166 and $215,866 lifetime to go along with a Pompano Park mark of 1:51.
Pompano Park returns on October 4, 2015 with a 126 day meeting.
Complete details of exact dates will be forthcoming in future press releases.
by John Berry for Pompano Park