Horses trained by Domenico Cecere were at the top of their game on Thursday, Nov. 14 at Plainridge Park and they provided their mentor his best day of the meet with three wins.
Cecere's winners included one he drove himself as Marquis Lafayette held off stablemate Sforza, driven by Bruce Ranger, in the featured $34,722 Open Handicap Trot.
Marquis Lafayette and Cecere got away third as Snowpiercer trotted on top through fractions of :28.1, :57.1 and 1:25.1 for Brett Beckwith. Cecere got Marquis Lafayette out and rolling heading towards the three-quarters mark and moved into second as they made their way into the far turn. At the top of the stretch, Marquis Lafayette continued to gain ground on Snowpiercer and took the lead in deep stretch. From there, he held off his stablemate, Sforza, who closed fast to finish only a quarter of a length behind the 1:54.1 winner. Snowpiercer settled for third one length back.
The win was the fourth of the year from 14 starts for Marquis Lafayette, who paid $11.60. The seven-year-old Ready Cash-Highscore Kemp gelding is owned by Greathorse.
Earlier on the card, the Cecere-trained three-year-old trotting gelding Intl Blockade ($12) led from gate to wire in 1:55.3 and claimed his seventh win of the year. Intl Blockade is owned by Lindy Farms of Connecticut.
Cecere’s training hat trick began with Plainridge newcomer Southern Moni ($3), a three-year-old trotting filly who scored in 1:54.2 with Ranger aboard for the ownership group of Hutt Racing Stable, Tim Klemencic, Blake MacIntosh and Ozzie MacKay.
The Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta was hit in the day’s ninth race and returned quite a premium. The single unique winning combination of 4-6-5-7-1 returned a healthy $4,650.96 for the 20-cent wager.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Friday, Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. There are only nine days of live racing remaining in the 2024 meet, which wraps up on Friday, Nov. 29.
(With files from Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)