Preview to Van Lennep Series tonight at Pompano

Two preview divisions of the $15,000 Frances Dodge Van Lennep Filly and Mare Pacing Series will be contested at Pompano Park on Friday, with a total of 19 female pacers entered, including top contenders Esmeralda Semalu, Carousel Frame, and Hypnotize.

BJR Stables Inc. and AGC Stables Inc.’s Esmeralda Semalu headlines the first Van Lennep Pacing Series Preview split, which goes as the fourth race on the Friday program.

Esmeralda Semalu prevailed in nine of 17 starts during her 3-year-old campaign, hitting the board 15 times and totaling $150,602 in seasonal earnings while competing exclusively in her native Quebec.

The daughter of Electric Stena scored victories in the $72,000 Circuit Quebec Elite final and the $42,000 Quebec Series Plus Elite Final for sophomore pacing fillies last year, and will be making her first pari-mutuel start since a third-place performance at Hippodrome de Montreal in November.

The Gerry Nelson trainee finished second in a Pompano qualifying heat on February 1, beaten less than three lengths by the millionaire pacer, and $350,000 Isle of Capri Pacing Series hopeful, Maltese Artist.

The 4-year-old mare has drawn post four and will be driven by Ricky Macomber Jr.

Owned by Let it Ride Stables Inc. and Robert Cooper Stables Inc., Carousel Frame is scheduled to challenge Esmeralda Semalu from post three in the fourth-race division of the Van Lennep Pacing Series Preview, with George Napolitano Jr. at the lines.

Carousel Fame amassed $143,849 in earnings last year while visiting the winner’s circle six times, including a lifetime best victory in 1:51.2 in a $29,000 non-winners event at the Meadowlands in July.

The 5-year-old daughter of Dragon Again will be making her first start since a disappointing seventh-place performance in an Open Handicap pace at Yonkers in mid-December. The Jeffrey Webster trainee recently qualified at the Meadowlands, crossing the wire fifth on January 31.

The top local hopeful in the first division of the Van Lennep Pacing Series Preview is Hypnotize, a 12-time winner in 2007 who tallied her first triumph as a 6-year-old when taking the featured $14,000 Fillies and Mares Open Handicap pace at Pompano on February 1.

Owned by Louis Diffenback, Lisa Diffenback, William Mack Jr., and trainer Jim Mattison, Hypnotize will start from post two with Kevin Wallis scheduled to drive.

The second division of the Van Lennep Pacing Series Preview will go as the sixth-race on the Friday program from Pompano, and will feature a contentious field of nine including the strong local contingent of Tintabella N, Queens Gambit N, Up Front Lady, and Velvet Eileen. (Pompano Park)

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