Plainridge drivers hit big milestones

Plainville, MA — When Bruce Ranger won the eighth race with Tuffenuftowearpink (1:51, $23.00) at Plainridge Park on Monday (Aug. 25) afternoon, he eclipsed the $50 million mark in harness racing career driving earnings.

A native of Portland, Maine, the 65-year-old Ranger started his driving career in 1979 at the Skowhegan Fair, where he scored his first victory. From there, his career path went through Massachusetts — at both Foxboro and Plainridge Park — as well as Florida, where he was a legendary star and the all-time dash win leader at Pompano Park.

After “momentarily retiring” in 2015, he returned to action at Scarborough Downs in the fall of 2018, and he’s been on a roll ever since. Since climbing back into the bike, Ranger has been competing at every track in Maine along with being a regular at Plainridge Park, where he has won multiple dash titles.

At the current Plainridge meet, Ranger is the second leading dash driver with 74 wins and $878,652 in purses out of 434 starts, with 49 seconds and 53 thirds. Overall this year to date, he has 620 starts with 117 wins, 71 seconds and 81 thirds with $1,084,818 in earnings.

Ranger’s overall career numbers are eye-popping. He has amassed 10,592 wins, 8,292 seconds and 6,785 thirds from 52,212 starts that pushed him to the $50 million mark. His win total puts him 19th on the North American all-time driving wins list with only 13 drivers ahead of him who are still active.

Ranger has won in excess of $1 million in a single season 14 times in his career and has won in excess of $2 million in purses seven times. Plus Ranger has always been a very high-percentage driver, boasting a career Universal Driver Rating of .337.

Ranger ended his big day by donning a hat for his three wins on the card.

Kevin Switzer Jr. achieved the $20 million earnings mark on Saturday when he won the second race at Windsor Fair with Lady Gunner (1:57.3, $8.20) by nine lengths.

Switzer, who is a third generation horseman, got his first pari-mutuel win at the age of 16 with a pacer named Spend Allthe Money at the North Maine Fair at Presque Isle as the betting favorite, and he’s been a betting favorite of anyone who follows harness racing in New England ever since.

For the past 23 years, Switzer has plied his trade at all the Maine fairs as well as Scarborough Downs until its closing in 2020, and at Plainridge Park, where he has been a perennial leading driver right through today.

For his career to this point, Switzer has made 19,959 starts with 3,695 wins, 3,218 seconds and 2,904 thirds that have generated his $20,042,351 in purses. Switzer’s most prolific year for wins was 2014 when he scored 376, and his most lucrative single year was 2023, when he posted $2,672,009 in earnings. Switzer’s career UDR is a lofty .324.

Switzer has won in excess of $1 million during a single season six times in his career and has won in excess of $2 million in purses three times.

At the current Plainridge Park meet, Switzer sits sixth for wins with 52, and they have helped his connection’s horses earn $838,509 in purses.

The feature race on Monday was the $25,000 Open Handicap pace and it was won by Price Control (Mitchell Cushing) who led a short six-horse field unchallenged through quarters of :26.2, :54.1 and 1:21.3 before entering the final turn ahead by 1-½ lengths. Price Control then spun into the stretch on top by two, but had to hold off Heinikin Bythebay (Matty Athearn) and Stonebridge Reef (Bret Beckwith), who made late lunges that came up short by three-quarters of a length as Price Control got across in 1:50.

It was the second straight win for Price Control ($8.00) who is owned by Ray Lasky, Matthew Little and his driver, Cushing, who also trains the winner.

In the day’s first race, which was a $17,500 non-winners event for 2 to 5-year-olds, Poker Sy (Brett Beckwith) destroyed the field by 14-lengths and stopped the clock in 1:49.1 to become tied as the fastest pacer ever bred in the state of Massachusetts. He matched the mile time of Mullinax who went in 1:49.1 at the Meadowlands in 2022.

Poker Sy ($5.00) is owned by the Jesmeral  Stable and trained by Christie Collins.

Poker Sy was one of four wins for Beckwith, who led all drivers for wins on Monday. On the training side, one might say it was “Eaton good in the neighborhood” as Mike Eaton sent to winners to post as did his daughter, Julia Eaton.

Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (Aug. 26) at 4 p.m. with a $1,259 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta in race six.

Free full past performance programs and race replays for all live racing days at Plainridge Park can be found at plainridgeparkcasino.com.

by Tim Bojarski, for Plainridge Park