Big card at Pompano tonight

The stage is set for harness racing’s richest event to date of the 2007 season, the $157,500 9th annual Isle of Capri Pacing Series Final featuring a classic rivalry between He Wants It All and Load The Dice.

Also on the program is the $77,800 final of the 6th annual Mack Lobell Trotting Series featuring world record holder Tweedle Dum and the $50,000 5th annual Red Bow Tie Invitational Pace for Florida-breds headed by Paper Exchange taking on return winners Rare Glory and Flight Of Glory.

The Isle of Capri final is set as the 7th race on the program. Load The Dice, the richest harness horse in racing in 2007 with $104,150 bankrolled this year for the Engel Stable, LLC, Sheffield Stable and DR VanWitzenburg of Illinois, is the 4-5 morning line favorite from post five for driver Bruce Ranger.

Last week Load The Dice was able to take the lead away from He Wants It All after the opening quarter mile in the $50,000 second leg of the series and steamroll his way to a 1:50.4 triumph by one and one-quarter lengths over He Wants It All and Maltese Artist. Michile Lorenzo is training the five-year-old gelded son of Cam’s Card Shark in Florida for regular trainer John McDermott.

A winner in 9 of his last 13 starts, Load The Dice has yet to finish worse than second in his last nine starts. He has also raced against He Wants It All six times since August with four wins while He Wants It All has beaten Load The Dice once.

He Wants It All enters the race seeking an unprecedented third straight victory in the Isle Of Capri Pace Final. The seven-year-old stallion by The Big Dog is a $856,000 career winner for owner Michael Polansky of Loudonville, NY and last year tied the stakes and all-age track record with a 1:49.4 triumph. Trained by Tom Harmer, He Wants It All will start from post seven for driver Wally Hennessey and they are the 6-5 second choice in the race.

In the $50,000 opening leg of the series, He Wants It All and Hennessey were able to use perfect cover behind Load The Dice and beat them to the wire for a head victory in 1:51. He Wants It All is coupled in the wagering with stablemate Star Role (post 4).

The third choice in the race is former world record holder, Maltese Artist from post six for driver Brett Miller. The class of the field with career earnings of $877,000, Maltese Artist has been third best in both his preliminary rounds.

The spotlight all last year was on the trotter Tweedle Dum and it will be once again in the 3rd race $77,800 Mack Lobell Final. Starting from post six for driver Walter Ross, Jr., Tweedle Dum is going for his fourth straight win and is the 3-5 favorite and rightly so. A winner in 23 of his 27 starts, the seven-year-old gelding by Star Challenge, trained by Gordon Norris and owned by Diane Norris and Alfred Brotter of Pompano Beach, it was earlier this month that Tweedle Dum set the Pompano Park track on fire.

In the $15,000 Mack Lobell Preview on February 2, Tweedle Dum and Ross wired the field in a romp by nine and three-quarter lengths in 1:53.2 to tie the world record on a five-eighths mile track for his age, gait and gender and he may just own the record outright after Saturday’s finale.

His main competition will come from Dink Adoo, who has been second to Tweedle Dum in both preliminary rounds. Two starts back he nearly beat Tweedle Dum, losing by a nose in 1:54.2. Dink Adoo will start from post two for driver Wally Hennessey.

The 5th race $50,000 Red Bow Tie Invitational Pace for Florida-breds has nine starters and Paper Exchange, despite drawing the outside post eight, is the mild 2-1 favorite for driver Bruce Ranger. The six-year-old gelded son of Ditch Em is trained by Tom Beckette for the Bruce Ranger Stable and is owned by the Fred Monteleone Stable, LLC of Pompano Beach.

Starting from post nine is Hearty Fellow for the Amante Standardbred Stable of Delray Beach. Hearty Fellow is seeking his third straight win in the Red Bow Tie Invitational. There are also two return winners in the race, Flight Of Glory (post 1) and Rare Glory (post 3). (Pompano Park)

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