Swedish Starlet N took her favourite position on the point and scored a gate to-wire victory in the $34,109 Distaff Open Handicap Pace at Plainridge Park on Tuesday, July 1.

Matthew Athearn bolted quickly to the front with Swedish Starlet N and reached the quarter in :26.3 with Uptown Hanover (Bruce Ranger) and Arizona (Brett Beckwith) following closely behind. Positions remained unchanged to the half in :54.4 until Uptown Hanover pulled to challenge heading to three-quarters. Swedish Starlet N responded to that challenge with a :27.3 third panel which kept Uptown Hanover at bay heading into turn three. Swedish Starlet N took her lead into the stretch and paced home with authority while holding off the fast-closing Always Bstunning N (Kevin Switzer Jr.) to win by one-half length in a season's best 1:51.

The win was the third of the year for Swedish Starlet N ($8.73) who is owned by Tim Bojarski and Tony Gruppo and trained by Jimmy Nickerson, bringing her to 26 career victories and $418,457 of earnings in 99 starts.

In the $24,005 upper-level conditioned pace for fillies and mares, Seaside Tina (Kevin Switzer Jr.) sat second behind Fade Out (Brett Beckwith) through quarters of :26.1, :55.2 and 1:23.1. Fade Out continued to lead while fighting off an outer flow around the last turn but when the girls entered the stretch, Seaside Tina found room along the pegs, bolted to the lead in deep stretch and won by a length in 1:53.2.

Seaside Tina ($5.18) is trained and owned by Mark Eaton, in partnership with Robert Griffin. She has now earned $334,371 with 15 career wins in 70 starts.

Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Thursday, July 3 at 4 p.m.

(with files from Plainridge)