Rocknroll Runa A romps in feature pace

Plainville, MA — Taking advantage of torrid early fractions, Rocknroll Runa A (Rock N Roll Heaven) turned a big move into a huge harness racing win in the $25,000 Winners-Over pacing feature at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon (May 18).

The Wild Card (Bruce Ranger) made the most of his pylon position start, seating an aggressive Anvil Hands (Jim Hardy) in a wicked :25.4 first quarter. The field stayed single-file for only a short time when Rocknroll Runa A (Luke Hanners) pulled first-over approaching the half with Patrickthepiranha A (Brett Beckwith) on his back.

When the group straightened out to trek up the backside,  Rocknroll Runa A switched gears and paced right by The Wild Card, cleared in the final turn and opened up a five-length lead by the top of the stretch. As he approached the line uncosted, Rocknroll Runa A stretched out to a seven-length margin of victory in 1:50.1.

It was the fourth win of the year and first at Plainridge Park for Rocknroll Runa A ($7.00) who is owned and trained by Larry Stalbaum.

ROCKNROLL RUNA A REPLAY

Hanners also won one of the $20,000 co-features with Odds On Blockchain (JK Endofanera) in 1:51.2, paying $13.80 to win.

He led at every station in the mile and crossed the line 2-½ lengths on top for Royal Rock Racing and Jaymes Mcassey, who also trains the winner.

ODDS ON BLOCKCHAIN REPLAY

Hanners also won the nightcap with Stihl N (Mcardle, 1:53.4, $13.00) to complete the driving hat trick.

The other $20,000 pace went to Skyway Victor (Tellitlikeitis) and driver Brett Beckwith who got class relief this week and took full advantage of it.

Skyway Victor took the lead past the half and opened up by three lengths at the head of the lane. From there, he cruised to a 2-¼ length win in 1:51.4. Skyway Victor ($5.20) is owned by Robert Griffin and Mark Eaton, who also does the training.

SKYWAY VICTOR REPLAY

In the fourth race, 24-year-old Katelyn Gerow registered her first training win at Plainridge Park after Third Power (1:54, $8.00) was steered to a convincing 2-½ length win by Bruce Ranger. Third Power was also Gerow’s first ever training win on April 15 at First Tracks Cumberland. In her very brief career, Gerow now has 12 starts with three wins, two seconds and four thirds, giving her an impressive .404 UTR.

Driver Nick Graffam got lifetime win 998 with Rockin’ Cougar (1:55.1, $5.40) on Thursday, leaving him only two shy of a career milestone,1,000.

The Jackpot Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta was hit in the ninth race on Thursday. The combination of 8-5-3-4-2 returned $3,129.66 for a 20-cent wager.

Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Monday (May 22) at 4 p.m.

For complete race results, click here.

by Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts