Rock Diamonds N sparkles in Open pace

Plainville, MA — After two second place finishes in the top class on the grounds, Rock Diamonds N drew inside and won the $25,000 Open Handicap harness racing pacing feature at Plainridge Park on Tuesday afternoon (May 17).

Rollinlikethunder (Jay Randall) tried a front-end move and out-hustled Bill Haley N (Matty Athearn) to the quarter in :26.3. From there positions remained unchanged to the half when Rock Diamonds N (Ron Cushing) pulled first-over and aggressively went after the leader.

Rollinlikethunder and Rock Diamonds N paced stride for stride up the backside and to three-quarters where Rock Diamonds N put a head in front after a spirited :27.4 quarter. Incrementally increasing his lead as they moved around the final turn, Rock Diamonds N cleared at the top of the lane and pulled away to a 1-¾ length victory over a fast-closing Always A Miki (Drew Monti) in 1:52.1.

It was the fourth win of the year for Rock Diamonds N ($12.20) who is owned by his driver Ron Cushing along with Kevin Sywyk. Heidi Gibbs trains the winner.

ROCK DIAMONDS N REPLAY

The fastest mile of the day came in the $20,000 Winners-Over pace where Patrickthepiranha A scored his second straight win in a season’s best time.

Bruce Ranger grabbed the lead with Patrickthepiranha A at the quarter and after backing the half down to :56, turned on the jets. As the field tried to keep up, Patrickthepiranha A stepped off back to back :27.1 panels and closed out the race by 2-½ lengths in 1:50.2.

It was the third win of the year for Patrickthepiranha A ($3.00) and Thestable Patrickthepiranha. Melissa Beckwith trains the winner.

PATRICKTHEPIRANHA A REPLAY

The feature race for pacing fillies and mares on Tuesday was the $20,000 Winners-Over class and second time Plainridge starter Bettorb Chevron N got her first win in Massachusetts.

Matty Athearn left from post six with Bettorb Chevron N and dropped in third where he stalked the pace of Probert (Bruce Ranger) who took the field to a casual :57.1 half. Bettorb Chevron N then came first up and pushed a quick :27 third quarter before taking the lead in the stretch and holding off a late charge by Turnthefrownaround (Luke Hanners) to win by ¾ length in a season’s best 1:52.4.

It was the fifth win of the year for Bettorb Chevron N ($5.20) and owner William Hartt. Lance Hudson trains the mare.

Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Thursday (May 19) at 4 p.m. Free full past performance race programs for all live race days can be downloaded by visiting the track’s website at plainridgeparkcasino.com and clicking the “Racing” tab.

For complete race results, click here.

By Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts