Ex Kiwi mare goes the distance in $25,000 open

Plainville, MA — After leading at every station of the race, Swedish Starlet N held off two late bids from fast closing harness racing rivals to claim her second win of the year in the featured $25,000 Open pace for fillies and mares at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (May 27) afternoon.

Kevin Switzer Jr. left fast with Swedish Starlet N and held a two length lead over Lady Saturn (Mitchell Cushing) in the :26.2 quarter. From there, Switzer throttled down the half to :56.1, forcing an outer flow from SS Superstar (Bruce Ranger), Waitforever N (Shawn Gray) and Side Piece (Drew Monti). As the race made its way up the backstretch, SS Superstar drew near Swedish Starlet N who had picked up the pace with a :27.4 third panel, but could not get by.

The field was bunching as they passed three-quarters and then halfway through the last turn, Waitforever N tipped three-deep around the fading SS Superstar and she was charging.

As the girls turned for home, Swedish Starlet N maintained a half-length advantage, but Waitforever N was closing on the outside and the tripped-out Lady Saturn was making up ground along the pegs. However Swedish Starlet N refused to lose and paced hard all the way to the wire where she won in a season’s best 1:52.2.

It was the 25th win in only 95 lifetime starts for Swedish Starlet N ($6.00) who is owned by Tim Bojarski and Tony Gruppo and trained by Jimmy Nickerson.

SWEDISH STARLET N REPLAY

Switzer also won the $19,000 upper-level conditioned event for female pacers with the recently imported Always Bstunning N, who took a new lifetime mark in impressive style.

Seaside Tina (Walter Case Jr.) parked Always Bstunning N past the :26.3 quarter before releasing her to the lead. And once that happened, the race was basically over. Always Bstunning N got to the half in :55.2 before opening up a two length advantage at three-quarters in 1:23.3, where Checkpoint Chatter (Jim Hardy) was making an outside rush and was closing ground in the breeze. After making her way around the last turn, Always Bstunning N extended her lead as she bolted for home and won handily in a career best 1:51.1, off a sharp :27.3 final panel.

ALWAYS BSTUNNING N REPLAY

It was the second straight win for Always Bstunning N ($2.60) who is owned by Richard Poillucci and trained by Gretchen Athearn.

Nick Graffam was the leading driver on Tuesday after scoring a hat trick on the card. Trainers Gretchen Athearn and Jimmy Nickerson were the commanding conditioners, winning two races apiece.

The Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta was hit in the day’s ninth race. The single unique combination of 1-8-7-3-2 returned a healthy $4,262.26 for the 20-cent wager.

Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Thursday (May 29) 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 entries, click here: US Trotting entries.

by Tim Bojarski, for Plainridge Park