Side Piece put in a stellar effort coming from behind to snare the victory in the featured $23,288 upper-level conditioned pace for fillies and mares at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (July 2). 

Racey Rach N (Mitchell Cushing) took the lead from Rys Red Rocket (Bruce Ranger) passing the :27.1 quarter and backed the half down to :56.2 once in the driver's seat. Dandys Evrlasting (Matty Athearn) was already out and rolling from third in the breeze at that point with Side Piece (Drew Monti) following closely with the cover. Positions remained unchanged to three-quarters and into the last turn where Monti tipped Side Piece three-high as they approached the stretch. Once in the lane, Side Piece paced past her peers under a line drive and won by three-quarters of a length in 1:52.3. 

With the win, Side Piece ($4.80) came just shy of $350,000 in career earnings, now boasting $339,911 for owner Janie Kellogg. Jackie Greene trains the winner. 

Monti ended the day with a driving triple, also winning with Gray Skies (1:55, $38.40) and Sundown Kid (1:51.4, $9.80). 

Earlier in the $19,178 conditioned pace for five-year-olds and under, Sweet Jeff IR (Nick Graffam) moved first-over from sixth and incrementally gained ground on the front running Social Sinker (Brett Beckwith) to the top of the lane. There, Sweet Jeff IR inches ahead of Social Drinker and then held off a fast closing ER Griffin (Bruce Ranger) at the line to win by a head in 1:52.4.

The triumph was the second win in a row for Sweet Jeff IR ($4.20) who is owned by Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi and trained by Joe Nelson. 

When driver Matty Athearn finished third with Im A Clown in the 11th race at Plainridge Park on Tuesday, he surpassed the $10 million USD plateau in career earnings, with his current bankroll at $10,000,446 USD on the strength of 1,126 career wins. 

Known as “Matty Ice” for his chill demeanor at the lines, Athearn is a native of Portland, Maine and comes from a generational racing family. His father Mark is both a longtime trainer and driver in Maine and his mother Gretchen, who is also an accomplished trainer who currently sits sixth for wins among Plainridge conditioners.

Athearn got his license in 2014 at age 16 and immediately started driving at fairs in Maine. Now 26 and in his 11th year driving, Athearn is currently the third leading driver at Plainridge Park with 43 wins and just over $540,000 USD in purses. 

Now residing in Saratoga, Athearn is also a regular at Saratoga Raceway and sits fourth there in the dash win category with 68 victories and $575,000 USD in earnings. 

For the year as a whole, Athearn now has 119 wins and $1.2 million USD in earnings with a UDR of .260. 

Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Thursday (July 4) with post time at 4 p.m. and the card will feature a $1,163 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 in race six.

(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)