In his usual front-running style, Major Leaguer led at every step of the mile en route to victory in the $15,000 wInners-over handicap pace at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon.
Major Leaguer (Nick Graffam) took his spot on the point off the gate before heading towards the quarter. But as he hit that first station in :26.4, JK Will Power (Mitchell Cushing) had already pulled and was right outside the leader pushing the issue. From there the two horses paced next to each other to the half, the three-quarters and then around the last turn. By the time they hit the seven-eighths pole, JK Will Power had started to fade and Major Leaguer was headed for home. Graffam gave him some subtle urging but then let Major Leaguer pace on his own to the line in 1:52.
It was the sixth win of the year for Major Leaguer ($2.80) who is owned by Jimmy Whittemore and is trained by Marissa Chadbourne.
The co-featured $15,000 conditioned pace for five-year-olds and under saw Benny Is A Jet do his best rocket man impersonation by streaking to his fourth consecutive win. Driver Bruce Ranger took the lead and called all the shots, posting quarters of :27.1, :56.2 and 1:25.3 before turning for home and holding off a tripped-out Sea Isle City (Shawn Gray) to win in 1:53.2.
Benny Is A Jet ($4.20) just took a lifetime mark of 1:50.4 last week and has now won five out of his last six starts for owners Bradford Veilleux and Anthony Loiko. James Dunn does the training.
Drivers Bruce Ranger, Nick Graffam and Drew Monti each won two races on Thursday.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Friday with post time at 2 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)