Northfield Park regular Mister Muscle took the short 635 mile ride down the 90 to Plainridge Park and immediately flexed his way to the winner’s circle in the $17,500 winners-over trotting feature on Monday afternoon.
Mister Muscle (Bruce Ranger) took the lead and opened up a two length advantage over Ronnie Goldstein (Shawn Gray) at the quarter in :27.4. With a gapped advantage still at the half, Pappy Go Go (Mitchell Cushing) and Eurobond (Drew Monti) started rolling an outer flow in pursuit of the leader.
Mister Muscle opened up three at three-quarters as Pappy Go Go faded, Eurobond went around him and Ronnie Goldstein started to dig in. With footsteps getting closer, Ranger started to heavily urge Mister Muscle at the head of the lane as his lead was diminishing with every stride. But despite the pursuer's best efforts, Mister Muscle took their best shot and hung on by a neck for the win in 1:55.3.
It was the sixth victory of the year for Mister Muscle ($10.40) who is owned by Patricia Schneeberger and trained by Melissa Beckwith.
The biggest win mutuel of the meet was paid out on Monday after Matty ‘Ice’ Athearn lived up to his name while coolly driving 60-1 Stihl N up the pylons at three-quarters and then three-deep in the stretch to nose out R Maddy Blue Chip (Kevin Switzer) at the wire in 1:55.1 to claim a new lifetime mark. Stihl N returned $133.40 to win much to the delight of her owner James Hemenway. Paul McHugh is the trainer.
Shawn Gray led all drivers on Monday with three wins while Alicia Gray led all trainers with two.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Thursday with post time at 1 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)