Cullipher–Pollack machine rolls on

Plainville, MA — The formidable combination of trainer Jeff Cullipher and owner Pollack Racing that has taken Plainridge Park by storm this year, continued to roll over the competition in the waning days of the meet as they posted four more harness racing wins, including victories in both feature races at The Ridge on Monday (Nov. 17).

In the $25,000 Open Handicap pace, Hunting Zone (Huntsville) dominated a stellar field of resident pacers.

Hunting Zone (Shawn Gray) took the lead past the quarter and motored to the half in :54 flat. By the time he got to three-quarters, Hunting Zone had opened up a five length gap with only the lone mare in the race, Always Bstunning N (Kevin Switzer Jr.), making up any ground on him as they headed around the last turn. Hunting Zone still had three-lengths on Always Bstunning N at the top of the stretch and cruised home far the best in 1:50.4.

It was the tenth win of the year for Hunting Zone who returned $7.20.

HUNTING ZONE REPLAY

Then in the $25,000 Open Handicap trot, Cullipher started the 3-year-old Lefties Righties against a field of older campaigners and came away with the victory nonetheless.

Lefties Righties (Shawn Gray) also took control passing the :28.2 quarter and then settled in with fractions of :57.1 to the half and 1:26 at three-quarters, while Platinum AS (Brett Beckwith) followed second in the loose pocket. Lefties Righties took his two length advantage into the stretch, where Platinum AS vacated the garden spot in pursuit of the leader. Platinum AS made up almost all of those two lengths in the lane, but came up just a nose short at the line to Lefties Righties, who won in 1:55 flat.

LEFTIES RIGHTIES REPLAY

It was the seventh win of the year for Lefties Righties who paid $8.60.

The Cullipher/Pollack machine closed out their grand slam with Super Duper Cooper (1:56.4, $6.00) and Elegant A (1:52.4, $2.80).

This year at Plainridge, Cullipher has extracted in excess of $550,000 in loot from his 116 starts, posting 37 wins, 19 seconds and 16 thirds, that give him a .440 UTR for his Massachusetts tenure.

Driver Shawn Gray also had a huge outing on Monday, due in part to his live drives from the Cullipher stable. Besides winning with the already mentioned Hunting Zone, Leftie Righties and Super Duper Cooper, Gray also won with Wickenburg (1:58.3, $8.60) and Storybook Bella (1:56, $4.80), both of which are trained by his wife, Alicia Gray, to close out his five-bagger.

Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (Nov. 18) at 1 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 Plainridge Park