Cecere snags hat trick at Plainridge

Plainville, MA —  Pupils of harness racing conditioner Domenico Cecere were at the top of their game on Thursday (Nov. 14) at Plainridge Park and they provided their mentor his best day of the Plainridge meet with three wins as trainer and one with him at the lines.

The one Cecere both trained and drove was Marquis Lafayette (Ready Cash), who won the featured $25,000 Open Handicap trot.

Marquis Lafayette got away third as Snowpiercer (Brett Beckwith) trotted to the half in :571. Cecere got Marquis Lafayette out and rolling heading towards three-quarters and moved into second as they made their way into the far turn. At the top of the stretch, Marquis Lafayette continued to gain ground on Snowpiercer and took the lead in deep stretch. From there, he held off his stablemate, Sforza (Bruce Ranger), who closed fast to finish only a quarter length behind Marquis Lafayette, who won in 1:54.1.

It was the fourth win of the year for Marquis Lafayette ($11.60) who is owned by Greathorse.

Earlier in the card, the Cecere-trained Intl Blockade (International Moni, Bruce Ranger) led from gate to wire and scored in 1:55.3 and claimed his seventh win of the year. Intl Blockade ($12.00) is owned by Lindy Farms of Connecticut.

Cecere’s training hat trick was filled out with Southern Moni (International Moni, 1:54.2, $3.00).

The Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta was hit in the day’s ninth race and returned quite a premium. The single unique winning combination of 4-6-5-7-1 returned a healthy $4,650.96 for the 20-cent wager.

Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Friday (Nov. 15) at 1 p.m. THere are only nine days of live racing remaining in the 2024 meet, which wraps up on Friday (Nov. 29).

Free full past performance programs for all live racing days at Plainridge Park can be downloaded from their website under the “racing” tab.

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

by Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts