La Bella Vita N wins Plainridge feature in photo finish

Plainville, MA — It took a camera to separate the top three finishers in the $25,000 distaff harness racing pacing feature at Plainridge Park on Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 28), but the picture clearly showed that La Bella Vita N (Changeover) got the job done for the second week in a row.

Kevin Switzer Jr. left for position from post seven with La Bella Vita N, who dropped in fourth as the front-running Racey Rach N (Jay Randall) seated Booraa N (Ron Cushing) in :27.4. But Racey Rach N only had the lead a short time as the impatient La Bella Vita N pulled early and rushed to the front on the outside by the half.

But La Bella Vita N was immediately faced with a new challenge from her stablemate Pammy Jo (Shawn Gray) who drew alongside Booraa N heading up the backstretch, second on the outside. Pammy Jo finally engaged La Bella Vita N halfway through the last turn while Booraa N tipped three-wide around them both. Heading to the wire, these three matched strides in close proximity and produced the photo finish that gave La Bella Vita N the win by a nose in 1:54.2.

It was the eighth win of the year for La Bella Vita N ($6.00) and it pushed her earnings to $138,000 for owners Douglas Overhiser and Michael Goldberg Racing. Alicia Gray is the winning trainer.

LA BELLA VITA N REPLAY

The final day of live racing for 2023 at Plainridge Park will take place on Thursday (Nov. 30) with post time at 1 p.m.

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

by Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts