After taking advantage of quick early fractions while he sat off the pace, Northern Skyway made a strong closing move to capture the $16,000 Open Handicap trot at Plainridge Park on Friday afternoon.

Last week’s feature winner Namesmuscle (Matt Athearn) went right back to work and led the field to the quarter in a moderate :28.4 split. At that point Nows The Moment (Mike Stevenson) was looking to turn up the heat and pulled from third to go after the leader and that’s when the battle ensued. Namesmuscle had no intentions of giving up the front and Nows The Moment didn’t have enough trot at that point to outmuscle Namesmuscle. So the two trotted side by side heatedly to the half in :57.2 and three quarters in 1:25.1.

While that melee was in progress Northern Skyway (Bruce Aldrich Jr.) who had been coasting along fourth, pulled from that spot and started tracking the leading pair from a parked third position. As that trio rounded the last turn, Nows The Moment had finally gotten the best of the fading Namesmuscle, but Northern Skyway had tipped to the middle of the track and was fully underway. Aldrich kept driving Northern Skyway down the lane and he incrementally drew alongside and then passed Nows The Moment to win by a length in 1:55.1.

Northern Skyway ($3.40) who had been making hay in the top trotting conditions at the Meadows since February got his first Plainridge win of the year in his second attempt of the meet for owner William Mc Elvain, Jr. and trainer Mike Hitchcock.

In the co-featured $14,000 conditioned trot, Mayfair Johnny B (Jay Randall) took the lead past the quarter and then never looked back; eventually trotting home in a brisk :28.4 to win by a length in 1:56.

It was the second straight win at Plainridge Park for Mayfair Johnny B ($3.40) and his owner the Kellogg Racing Stable. Jackie Greene trains the winner.

The driver and trainer combination of Wally and Lisa Watson led all horsepersons competing on Friday, each scoring a double in their respective category.

Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Monday afternoon (April 22) at 4 p.m. For more information about Massachusetts harness racing log onto the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts at www.sominc.net or Plainridge Park at www.plainridgeparkcasino.com.

(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)