Late brush gets JK Will Power home

Plainville, MA — The best resident sidewheelers at Plainridge Park faced off in two harness racing divisions of Winners-Over pacing events on Monday afternoon (May 9) and both races produced longshot winners.

The $25,000 feature event went to JK Will Power who followed fast early fractions and scored with a strong late brush at 21-1.

Skyway Victor (Luke Hanners) out-left everyone off the gate and sped to the quarter in :25.3. But shortly after settling in, Hespoisedtopounce A (Drew Monti) pulled first-over in pursuit as the group rolled past the half in :53.4. Skyway Victor turned back the outside challenge as they motored up the backside but still had Pocket Of Terror A (Shawn Gray) right behind him and Hudson Phil (Jay Randall) approaching from three deep heading into the last turn.

At this point JK Will Power (Kevin Switzer Jr.) was locked in fourth at the pylons, but Switzer managed to find room and got out around the last turn. He followed Hudson Phil, tipped three-wide at the top of the stretch and paced home the fastest to win by 1-¾ lengths in 1:51.1.

JK Will Power (45.00) claimed his fourth win of the year and pushed his 2022 earnings to $44,850 for owner Michael Goldberg Racing. Jeff Lieberman was the winning trainer.

JK WILL POWER REPLAY

Earlier in the $20,000 secondary feature, Rollinlikethunder was let go at 39-1 and made the betting faithful regret it after getting home first to light up the toteboard.

Salt Life (Nick Graffam) had the early lead before Cigars And Port (Wally Watson) went to the front before the :56.2 half. Rollinlikethunder (Jay Randall) made a first-over move from seventh heading into the second turn and chased down Cigars And Port from the outside.

From there the two pacers matched strides up the backstretch with Rollinlikethunder gaining the edge as they rolled around the final turn. At the head of the stretch Rollinlikethunder opened up a length advantage and held sway to the wire ahead of the late closing Bag Pipe Major (Kevin Switzer Jr.) and Always A Miki (Drew Monti) to win in a season’s best 1:52.3.

It was the second win in only three 2022 starts for Rollinlikethunder ($81.20) and it pushed his lifetime earnings to over a quarter million, now showing $258,333 in the bank for owners Rick Cortese and Donald Hawk. Jimmy Nickerson trains the winner.

ROLLINLIKETHUNDER REPLAY

The third top class of the day was a $17,500 conditioned pace where Rockin The Blaze (Bruce Ranger) led at every station en route to his third straight win at Plainridge Park, timed in 1:51.4. Owned by Howard Jacobs and trained by Melissa Beckwith, Rockin The Blaze returned $3.80 for the win.

Drivers Bruce Ranger and Kevin Switzer Jr. both had triples on the card while Mark Beckwith led all trainers with two tallies for the afternoon.

The Grand Circuit returns to Plainridge Park for the second of three dates on Monday (May 16) with the inaugural edition of the $100,000 Battle of Bunker Hill trot for 3-year-old trotters. There are 17 eligible sophomore trotters and the field will be drawn on Thursday (May 12).

Live racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (May 10) with post time at 4 p.m. Free downloadable programs are available for every live race day at Plainridge Park under the “Racing” tab on their website here.

For complete race results, click here.

By Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts