Happy B'day Frank O'Mara

Veteran horseman Frank O'Mara celebrated his 74th birthday with a bang Tuesday night, winning with his own 2-year-old filly trotter Mare O'Mara in a $14,545 Wolverine Futurity division at the Holland fairgrounds in western Michigan. Also, Farragut won the $27,840 Wolverine Futurity for 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers, the richest race in North America for the day.

Mare O'Mara, a daughter of Keystone Nordic-Miss Cloud, trotted her mile in 2:07.3 over the "good" racetrack to win for the first time in four starts. O'Mara, who seldom drives any more, won just 32 races over the entire decade of the 1990s, but in the last three years he has already notched 29 trips the winner's circle.

Farragut, a son of Admiral's Galley-Everblooming, won the Wolverine in 2:02.3, pacing his last quarter in :29.1 to seal the decision. Mark Webster drove for trainer Allen Sisco and owner William Roberts, who purchased the gelding as a yearling for $4,200. It was Farragut's first win in five career starts, although he had yet to miss a check.

Virago captured the $27,340 Wolverine Futurity for 2-year-old filly pacers with a 2:05.1 effort for owner-trainer-driver Don Harmon. The daughter of Allie Kell-Todd's Courtney is a half sister to the $110,000 winner Surreptitious, who finished second in a Wolverine Futurity division in 2002.

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