Cumberland, Rhode Island native Mike Eaton has been racing in New England for over 30 years but he is currently enjoying what looks to be his best season yet. Proof of that is having two of his stable members capture both top trots on Thursday afternoon at Plainridge Park.
In the $14,000 Open Handicap trot, Black Broadway (Mike Eaton) settled in fourth off the gate momentarily before Eaton decided to come early and rolled off the pylons before the quarter. From there Black Broadway was parked every step the rest of the mile chasing the front running Wind And A Prayer (Nick Graffam). Despite solid fractions and the appearance of tiring around the final turn, Black Broadway caught a second wind, chased down Wind And A Prayer and then held off a fast closing Bloodstockshalltab (Jimmy Whittemore) to win right at the wire in 1:55.1.
It was the seventh win of the year for Black Broadway ($8.40) who now has $69,400 on her card for 2017.
And in the co-featured $10,000 conditioned trot, Shorething Fashion (Jimmy Whittemore) was parked out the entire mile before tipping three and then four deep around the last turn and trot away to win by almost two-lengths in 1:55.3.
Shorething Fashion ($5.60) now has eight wins on the year with $52,177 on the card.
Both horses are owned by Eaton and Bob McHugh.
For this year Mike Eaton trainees have won 39 races out of 179 starts and $274,564 in purses, giving him a .348 UTR. He is currently the fifth leading dash winning trainer at Plainridge with 31 wins, ninth for UTR (.323) and sixth in earnings ($205,337).
For his career Eaton has 714 wins and $1.87 million in earnings. This year he has already exceeded his highest previous annual earnings total ever ($170,145) and is only nine wins away from tying his best one-year win production ever (48).
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Friday with post time set at 2:30 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)