A reversal of strategy produced favourable results as Mistress Valentine raced to victory under cover in the $12,000 trotting feature at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon.
Mistress Valentine (Mark Eaton) left as usual, but when Guiltywithanexcuse (Greg Merton) pulled from second to try for the lead at the quarter pole there was no argument. Eaton and his usually front-running mare let Merton go to the top and opted to take the trip.
From there Guiltywithanexcuse did all the heavy lifting as he took the group to the half in :57.1 and three-quarters in 1:25.1. At that station the pack was in two rows; four in and three out. Guiltywithanexcuse had a narrow lead with One Swan For All (Wally Watson) outside, Wind And A Prayer (Kevin Switzer, Jr.) three deep and Mistress Valentine locked in at the rail behind a wall of horses.
As they headed down the straightaway, Mistress Valentine had trot but no racing room. But as Merton started getting after Guiltywithanexcuse, he started to drift off the pylons. Eaton saw his opening and started throwing the lines to chase his mare into the hole and came away a nose victor over Guiltywithanexcuse in 1:55.3.
It was the fourth win of 2017 and 34th lifetime for Mistress Valentine ($4.40) and it pushed her annual assets to $33,155 for owners Bob McHugh and Mark Eaton, who does the training as well.
In that race, Guiltywithanexcuse was claimed by Raymond and Eva Labonte for $20,000.
Greg Merton had three driving wins and Monique Cohen had two tallies on the training side.
Fans of the Wicked Hi-5 Pentafecta wager were rewarded on Thursday as the largest payoff since the inception of the bet was doled out. In the sixth race, the bearer of a single 20-cent straight combination of 6-3-8-7-2 was presented with $9,864.66. Needless to say there is no carry-over for Friday.
Racing resumes on Friday afternoon with post time set for 4 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)