Ranger win features as Plainridge closes

Plainville, MA — As the curtain came down on the 2021 harness racing meet at Plainridge Park on Friday afternoon (Nov. 26), Vesuvio Bi snuck in one more win after making a late dash to the wire in the $22,500 Winners-Over trot.

Bruce Ranger left for position from post five with Vesuvio Bi and dropped in third behind Golden Kronos (Drew Monti), who bolted from post nine and grabbed the lead. After a :28.1 quarter and :58.1 half, Vesuvio Bi was ready to partake and tipped out first-over, motoring towards the front on the backstretch.

Golden Kronos still maintained the lead at three-quarters and around the far turn, but Vesuvio Bi eventually collared him at the top of the stretch. From there Ranger fed him line and Vesuvio Bi trotted home in front by 1-½ lengths in 1:56.1.

It was the seventh win of the year for Vesuvio Bi ($10.40) and owners Michele Nelson and Eric Everett. Joe Nelson trains the winner.

VESUVIO BI REPLAY

Ranger doubled his win total for the day in the next race — which was the $17,500 co-featured pace — after he went wire to wire with Frontier Rollo ($4.80) in 1:53.2 and won by five lengths to score the gelding’s second straight victory.

Frontier Rollo is owned by his trainer, Melissa Beckwith.

FRONTIER ROLLO REPLAY

Bruce Ranger was also honored at the track as the top dash winning driver of the current meet. Ranger finished with 181 wins and $1,982,636 in earnings.

The trainer of the meet was Jimmy Nickerson who garnered 60 wins and $797,640 in purses.

Plainridge Park will return to live racing on April 11, 2022 with 110 racing dates that were assigned by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

For full race results, click here.

By Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts