Mare breaks own track record Tuesday

Plainville, MA — Since coming to Plainridge Park from Yonkers Raceway, Pure Cotton (Rockin Image-Some Cotton) has been at the top of her harness racing game. She broke the track record for 4-year-old pacing mares in her first start here in July by pacing in 1:50.3 and on Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 9), she broke that record again with an impressive victory for driver Bruce Ranger in the $20,000 Open Handicap for distaff pacers.

Powered By Mach (Jay Randall) took the short field of five to the quarter in :26.2, but Ranger had Pure Cotton out and rolling to the front after that station and settled on the lead to dictate the rest of the mile. She hit the half in a fast :54.1 when Probert (Brett Beckwith) showed up on the outside after pulling from third, and she was on the attack.

The two mares paced in close proximity up the backstretch in another speedy :27.3 split and continued to tussle at the top of the lane. Sarah’s Lily (Jim Hardy) joined the fray three wide in deep stretch making two pursuers chasing the leader, but Pure Cotton was up to the task and closed out the race on top by a half-length in 1:50.2.

The time was a new track record for a 4-year-old pacing mare and also a new lifetime mark for the winner.

PURE COTTON REPLAY

Pure Cotton ($2.60) is having a career year, now with six wins and $86,720 in earnings in 2022 for owner William Hartt. Lance Hudson trains Pure Cotton. She now has a career record of 13 wins, 6 seconds and 5 third place finishes, good for $171,045 in earnings.

Ranger finished the day as the top driver after scoring three wins during the card.

When live racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon (Aug. 11), there will be a $27,352 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 wager in race six. Post time for the first race is 4 p.m. Free full past performance race programs for all live race days can be downloaded by visiting the track’s website by clicking here and clicking the “Racing” tab.

For complete race results, click here.

by Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts