Sea Can turned an advantageous trip into his second feature win at Plainridge Park after taking the $34,247 Open Handicap Trot on Thursday, Aug. 22. 

Sea Can (Nick Graffam) tucked in second behind Sidd Finch (Drew Campbell) who set soft fractions of :28 and :57 to the half. That prompted Delayed Hanover (Mark Whitcroft) to pull from third and advance towards the leader at three-quarters. Delayed Hanover and Sidd Finch matched strides around the last turn until Graffam shook loose with Sea Can, who made his way to the middle of the stretch and then blew right by both to clear by a half length and win in 1:55. 

It was the second win in the last three starts for Sea Can ($3.80) who is owned by Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi. Joe Nelson trains the winner. 

In the $27,397 upper-level conditioned trot, Cruising Tom (Matty Athearn) also took a stalking position from fourth as Raybarnz (Ivan Davies) snapped off fractions of :28, :57.3 and 1:26. By that third station, Bill Bauer (Drew Campbell) was challenging on the outside and Cruising Tom was right behind him as they made their way through the final bend. When they spun into the stretch, Athearn had Cruising Tom three-deep and rolling and took the lead as they straightened for home. Once on top, Cruising Tom was a clear winner by a length in 1:55.3. 

It was the fourth win of the year for Cruising Tom ($6.40) who is owned by Rick Cortese and Marc Reynolds. Jimmy Nickerson trains the winner. 

Athearn, Nickerson and Reynolds also won with Mr. Experience (1:56.3, $12.20) to get that connection a double and Athearn added another win withTwoscoopsforjack (1:54.3, $39.00) to get the hat trick for himself. 

Another connection that was red hot on Thursday was driver Bruce Ranger, trainer Domenico Cecere and owner Lindy Farms of Connecticut, who teamed up for a hat trick. They won with Treatyofversaille (1:59.3, $2.40), International Aid (1:57.2, $3.80) and Dejerate Hanover (1:53.3, $2.80). 

A very rare occurrence happened at Plainridge Park on Thursday when five offspring from the same broodmare competed on the same program that day at The Ridge. Plus one grandson, a son of one of her mares, was also scheduled to compete.

The mare responsible for all this racing success is Tori Hall, a now 19-year-old daughter of Conway Hall-Trapeze Artist who was originally purchased to race, but became a broodmare “by accident.”

Kathy Beaman and her husband Earl own Tori Hall. The Beaman’s first got involved in harness racing in the 1960’s when Earl trained horses at Hinsdale Raceway. But for most of their time in the sport, they have been primarily owners. Over the years they’ve had 37 horses, the bulk of which they bred.

Kathy Beaman looked back at how they came to own Tori Hall.

“Ivan Davies trained Tori Hall for Mike Andrews in Maine and raced her through her two-year-old season when Mike decided to sell her. Ivan called us and said he had a real nice filly and that he thought we should buy her. My husband and I talked it over and decided to move forward with it and paid $35,000 for her,” explained Beaman. 

The Beaman’s bought her as a race horse with the long term goal of breeding her, but the breeding happened sooner than they had hoped.

“We raced her three times as a three-year-old and she had two wins and a third from those starts. But then she got her leg caught up in a jog cart and got injured. So we did a lot of work with her to get her sound and tried to bring her back two years in a row, but it didn’t work out so we went ahead and bred her,” said Beaman.

That unfortunate situation turned into a blessing in disguise as they soon found out their mare was a natural at turning out race horses. To date, Tori Hall has been bred eight times, has produced eight foals that all raced as two-year-olds, and all have taken marks and competed in the Massachusetts Sire Stakes.

The horses in order of foaling are EB Stoli (Cash Hall - 1:59, $20,214), Catalina Cash (Cash Hall - 1:56.4, $76,626), Pirate (RC Royalty - 1:55.1, $116,727), Tobasco (Deweycheatumnhowe - 1:55.1, $293,652), Raybarnz (Crazed - 1:53.3, $227,975), Poppy Wow (Crazy Wow - 1:55, $151,198). Pepper Wow (Crazy Wow - 1:55.4, $65,033) and Halifax (Royalty For Life) who just qualified and made his first lifetime start on Thursday.

Her first three foals no longer race. EB Stoli was retired. Catalina Cash went to the sale at the end of her three-year-old year and became the dam of Six Pack Mack, who is also racing on Thursday. Pirate, who ended up getting a very bad ankle infection, had to be retired as well.

The remaining five, Tobasco (Race 10), Raybarnz (Race 7), Poppy Wow (Race 4), Pepper Wow (Race 3) and Halifax (Race 2), all raced on Thursday.  

Currently the Beamans own Pepper Wow (in partnership with Shirley Michaud) who is trained and driven by Ivan Davies along with Poppy Wow and Halifax who are trained by Jolene Andrews and driven by Jimmy Hardy.

Beaman speaks glowingly about all the success Tori Hall has had in the breeding shed and rightfully so.

“She is a 100% producer and very close to being a 100% producer on her first try each time. Dave Hanson has bred her almost every single time and they are just like a magic combination. We send her over there and he gets her in foal, usually on the first try. And we have a cross that we really like to use,” said Beaman.

“We like to breed to New York sires, but what’s driven all her later breedings was our connection to JL Cruze. Tori’s full sister is Topcat Hall, who is the dam of JL Cruze. So we have tried to stay within that Credit Winner family. We used Crazed for Raybarnz, but then he got exported and we were not able to make a connection with his new farm. So we have been using the offspring of Crazed as much as we can since.”

The Beamans are looking to go back to Crazy Wow next year since he’s back in New York. Beaman said they have been very happy with Poppy Wow and Pepper Wow and that seems like a good combination to go back to.  

Tori Hall is currently on a farm in Winchester, New Hampshire and has a Six Pack on the ground with her now. Considering her very impressive record of producing, the question is how many more years will she be bred? Beaman said whatever is best for the mare.

“I really don’t know the answer to that because she is getting older. But in all of her pregnancies, she’s never had any problems so she’s easy like that. But I think it’s getting harder for her to crank out these babies year after year. So as long as she’s healthy, we’ll let her tell us when she’s had enough. And then we’ll just retire her and let her live her life out on the farm.”

“We have been in this for a long time and we have given it our all. We really care about these horses and it’s a bonus when we get positive results. Over the years we couldn’t be happier with the hard work Ivan (Davies), Jim (Hardy) and Jolene (Andrews) have put in and the results they have gotten. I think the fact that five offspring are all racing on one day gives testament to the excellent care they have all received from all their handlers over the years. It’s a labor of love and it really does take a village,” concluded Beaman. 

Live harness racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Monday, Aug. 26 with post time at 4 p.m. and the card will feature a $1,465 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 in race six.

(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)