Pompano Beach, FL – On Thursday night the North American harness racing record for trotters going five-eighths of a mile was both set and tied in the Dash For The Cash Series at Eldorado Pompano Park.
The North American record that was set was done so by Sam Stathis’s Celebrity Eventsy ($7.00) in the third race trot, the third of three $10,000 Dash For The Cash divisions on the program.
With trainer/driver Sam Stathis in the sulky, Celebrity Eventsy was able to grab the early lead away from Katch Kanna (Aaron Byron) by the opening quarter mile in :27.2.
Celebrity Eventsy and Stathis then held the field at bay as they led at the half mile in :55.4 and then won by one and one-half lengths in 1:10 over Thundercrest (Dustin Ingraham) with Railee Workable (Bryce Fenn) third.
A five-year-old mare by Manofmanymissions, the 1:10 clocking was the fastest ever by a mare going five-eighths of a mile. It was her second win this season. She is a career winner of $581,000 and is owned by Celebrity Farms of New York, NY.
Earlier on the card, in the first race, second trot division of the Dash For The Cash, Bioness, with trainer/driver Hunter Oakes, also wired the field, going in a speedy 1:09.
That time tied Bioness with Sooo Handsome, who set the mark in February of this year, also at Pompano Park. Bioness defeated Sooo Handsome (Rick Plano) with Fleetwood Hall (James Hysell) third.
It was the second straight win and seventh of the season for Bioness, a seven-year-old gelding by Sam Bourbon, who is owned by the Northfork Racing Stable of Wilkes-Barre, PA and paid $7.40 to win.
There was a pacing division of the Dash For The Cash Series in the second race and that took the photo finish camera to decide the winner.
Polak A and Hunter Oakes went right to the lead and sizzled to the opening quarter mile in :26.2, then cut the mile to the half in :54 and had the lead starting down the stretch.
Meanwhile, Feelin Lika Winner and driver David Ingraham got away in fifth place, then moved up to third place at the top of the stretch and keeping to the inside, gained ground with every stride and nipped Polak A at the wire by a nose. Bowedfortyova (Gregory Merton) was third.
The time of the mile was 1:08 as Feelin Lika Winner posted his eighth win of the year. The eight-year-old gelded son of Feelin Friskie is trained and co-owned by Casandra Uppal with Rebecca Uppal of Middletown, IN. He paid $11.20 to win.
By Steve Wolf
