Cecere, Ranger get five wins each

Plainville, MA — Trainer Domenico Cecere and harness racing driver Bruce Ranger both had huge afternoons at Plainridge Park on Monday (June 2) after winning five races apiece during the program.

Cecere had a perfect afternoon after starting five trotters from his stable who all came away with a win. Cecere’s victories included a natural grand slam in races three through six.

Cecere students who visited the winners enclosure on Monday included Global Heritage (1:57.2, $2.10), Tactical Moni (1:56.2, $2.20), Castle Lindy (1:57.2, $3.00), Sforza (1:54, $8.00) and Murial (1:55.3, $4.00).

Ranger’s wins included three of Cecere’s starters (Global Heritage, Castle Lindy and Sforza) along with Grafenberg (1:56.2, $9.60) and Novel (1:55.1, $10.60).

Cecere and Ranger’s biggest win of the day was when they teamed up with Sforza (Walner), who took the $19,000 upper-level conditioned trot, which was the secondary featured race.

SFORZA REPLAY

Sforza cut fractions of :27.1, :56.3 and 1:25.1 while the heavily favored Asteroid (Brett Beckwith) sat a perfect trip in the pocket. When they turned for home, Asteroid was out and rolling and matched strides with Sforza all the way to the wire. But Sforza would not give way and hung on to win by a nose in 1:54.

Sforza is owned by Greathorse.

The feature race of the day was the $25,000 Winners-Over Handicap trot where Morning Edition (Walner) delivered good news for his connections.

It took a little over a quarter mile for driver Shawn Gray to get the lead with Morning Edition, but once he cleared in front of the stands, he was unbeatable. Morning Edition got to the half in :56.1 and three-quarters in 1:24.3 with Duly Resolved (Brett Beckwith) pushing the issue during those fractions. After rounding the last turn, Morning Edition maintained a slim advantage as the field fanned out in chase behind him, and held in to win by one-half length in 1:53.4.

MORNING EDITION REPLAY

Morning Edition ($12.00) is owned by Mark Jakubik and Douglas Overhiser and trained by Alicia Gray.

Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (June 3) at 4 p.m.

Free full past performance programs and race replays for all live racing days at Plainridge Park can be found at plainridgeparkcasino.com.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts