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Plainville, MA — The field for the $250,000 Spirit of Massachusetts Trot that will be held at Plainridge Park on Sunday (July 23) was drawn on Tuesday (July 18) and a full field of nine top harness racing Open trotters will go postward in the biggest race of the year in Massachusetts.
The field is made up of eight horses and one mare and is carded as race nine.Hall of Fame trainer Ron Burke has a lethal one-two punch entered with the $1.5 million earner Itās Academic along with stablemate, Hillexotic. Plainridge Park regular and Massachusetts-bred Marquis Lafayette was awarded with an āat-largeā entry that was determined by the Harness Horsemanās Association of New England, The Hambletonian Society and Plainridge Park.
The $100,000 Clara Barton Distaff Pace was also drawn, and five mares will vie for the top prize. Heading the field is trainer Nik Drennan’s Mikala, who just won the $159,000 Dorothy Haughton at the Meadowlands last Saturday night (July 15) in a sizzling 1:47.4 mile, beating Grace Hill in deep stretch to take a new lifetime mark.
The estimated post time for the Clara Barton is 3:20 p.m. and the Spirit of Massachusetts Trot is slated to go off at 4:40 p.m. Post time for the first race at Plainridge Park on Spirit Sunday is 2 p.m.
Here is the full draw for both stakes:
$250,000 Spirit of Massachusetts Trot
1 Kildare King (Trixton) (ND, Christopher Beaver)
2 Rattle My Cage (Love You) (Ake Svanstedt, Ake Svanstedt)
3 Marquis Lafayette (Ready Cash) (Bruce Ranger, Domenico Cecere)
4 Hillexotic (Muscle Hill) (Yannick Gingras, Ron Burke)
5 Herculisa (My MVP) (Austin Siegleman, Matty Medeiros)
6 Balenciaga (Chapter Seven) (Mark Macdonald, Paul Kelley)
7 Delayed Hanover (Southwind Frank) (Andy Miller, Kevin Mc Dermott)
8 Asteroid (Creatine) (Dexter Dunn, Ake Svanstedt)
9 Itās Academic (Uncle Peter) (David Miller, Ron Burke)
$100,000 Clara Barton Distaff Pace
1 Valar Dohaeris (Huntsville) Mark Macdonald, Ake Svanstedt)
2 Drama Act (Well Said) (David Miller, Ron Burke)
3 Max Contract (Huntsville) (Andy Miller, Julie Miller)
4 Sweet Treasure (Sweet Lou) (Yannick Gingras, Nancy Takter)
5 Mikala (Always B Miki) (George Brennan, Nik Drennan)
A pair of 3-year-olds put up powerful performances in the top two classes at Plainridge Park on Tuesday afternoon (July 18) and both did it with front end speed.
In the $17,500 conditioned pace, Rodman scored his second straight win by turning back two strong challenges in the lane.
Rodman (Matty Athearn) struck the front for the first time in six weeks, seating Out To Get Lucky (Drew Campbell) for the trip. Rodman got to the half in a relatively easy :56.4 when Captain Six (Pat Curtain) pulled from third at five-eighths and came calling on the outside. Captain Six got to Rodmanās flank in the far turn and pulled to within a length at the top of the stretch. As the race headed down the lane, Rodman was fending off Captain Six on the outside and Out To Get Lucky along the pylons. While Captain Six and Out To Get Lucky worked hard to catch the leader, Rodman held them off by three-quarters of a length to win in 1:53.2.
It was the sixth win out of nine Plainridge Park starts for Rodman, who is owned by his trainer Mark Eaton, in conjunction with Robert Griffin.
RODMAN REPLAY
The ensuing race was an $11,000 conditioned pace where Mimado turned in an eye-popping performance to grab her first lifetime win.
Mimado (Mitchell Cushing) sat second behind Defiant Izzie (Bruce Ranger) to the quarter in :27 flat but pulled immediately after that station to take the lead. Mimado paced under wraps to the half, but she was released midway up the backstretch. Cushing let Mimado out a notch and she opened up a four-length gap by three-quarters. Mimado continued unchallenged around the final turn and then paced like a freight train down the stretch to a 12-Ā¼ length win in 1:52.3.
It was the first lifetime win in only five lifetime starts for the lightly raced Mimado ($2.80), who is owned by Richard Poillucci and trained by Tahnee Camilleri.
MIMADO REPLAY
Matty “Ice” Athearn led all drivers with three wins on Tuesday while 10 different trainers each won one race on the card.
Plainridge Park will host the Grand Circuit on Sunday (July 23) when the $250,000 Spirit of Massachusetts Trot and $100,000 Clara Barton Distaff Pace will be held. Post time for that feature packed card of racing and entertainment is set for 2 p.m.
Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Thursday (July 20) at 4 p.m. and there will be a $12,925 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta wager in race six.
For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.
by Tim Bojarski, for Plainridge Park
