Ammo put forth his fastest winning mile since 2024 as he led at every call and dug in late to take in the $41,096 Open Handicap Pace at Plainridge Park on Thursday, May 21. 

Matty Athearn took a quick lead with Ammo in a :27.1 first panel and got to the half in :55.1 with Mydadsaid A (Jacob Cutting) following in the garden spot. Two Fold Cold (David Ingraham) pulled first-over to try and push the pace at the midway point and drew alongside Ammo at the 1:22.2 three-quarters but was unable to forge to the front. Ammo strode out to a one-length advantage by the time they reached the stretch but was not home yet as Mydadsaid A vacated the pocket and had a target on Ammo. Mydadsaid A blitzed down the lane and gobbled up ground, but a hard-driven Ammo toughed it out and hung on by a neck to win in 1:50.2. Two Fold Cold was third.

Ammo, a six-year-old son of Sweet Lou-Beach Gal, won for the 20th time in 91 career starts and pushed his earnings to $972,289. Melissa Beckwith trains the stallion, who is now two-for-12 this year, for Patrick Morris of Charlottetown, P.E.I. The win price was $13.20

In the $30,137 upper-level optional-claiming pace, Alex Having Fun (Mitchell Cushing) got away seventh and 12 lengths in arrears as Lifes A Puzzle (Bruce Ranger) led to the quarter in :27.2 and Confederatestar N (Athearn) put up a :55 half. Confederatestar N guided the field onto the backstretch, where he was greeted with a challenge from Tenzing Bromac N (Ron Cushing), who was also providing live cover for Alex Having Fun, now fourth and only 2-1/2 lengths from the front at three-quarters in 1:23.2. Positions stayed static around the last turn, but in the stretch, Alex Having Fun tipped wide and drew clear to a 1-1/4-length win over a fast-closing Franco Tyson A (Larry Stalbaum) in 1:52.1. Confederatestar N was third.

The win was the third of the year in 12 outings for Alex Having Fun ($33), who is owned and trained by Kimberly Vafiades. The nine-year-old Rock N Roll Heaven-Arterra gelding is 43-for-194 lifetime.

There was also a $27,397 race for four-year-old Massachusetts-bred male pacers on the card that was won by Southpaw (Jimmy Whittemore). He sat third behind Jon I Love Dat (Jacob Cutting), who fired off ferocious fractions of :25.4, :53.2 and 1:21.2 before turning for home. In the stretch, Whittemore tipped Southpaw three-wide for the drive, and the gelding outpaced Digging For Gold (Athearn) to the line by a half-length in 1:50.1, which was a new lifetime mark. Courageous Warrior (Mitchell Cushing) was third. Whittemore owns and trains Southpaw ($13.80), who took his first win of the year in five starts and upped his career totals to 10 wins from 36 outings. 

All five starters in the race competed in the Massachusetts Breeders Stakes last year as three-year-olds, with Southpaw and Digging For Gold finishing second and third, respectively, in the $211,268 final. This year’s $3.2 million USD Massachusetts Breeders Stakes starts on Monday, Sept. 28 and runs for four weeks through Thursday, Oct. 29. 

Longshot winners continued to be the trend at The Ridge this week with more big-time payouts made at the windows. On Thursday, it was Monsieur Panic, driven by Larry “The Bomber” Stalbaum, winning in 1:52.1 and paying $78 and Sunsational (Bruce Ranger) winning in 1:52.3 and returning $60.60.

Cushing had three wins on the 10-race card to lead the drivers.

Racing resumes at Plainridge on Friday at 4 p.m. There will be a $17,643 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta wager in the sixth race. 

(With files from Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)