After shipping back from a two-week stint at Yonkers Raceway, Bettors Fire N turned up the heat on his competition at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon as he took no prisoners en route to winning the $20,000 Open Handicap featured pace.
Rock Diamonds N (Ron Cushing) and Bettors Fire N (Mitchell Cushing) flew off the wings and went right to the front, with Bettors Fire N grabbing the lead and Cushing then grabbing leather as no one challenged early. He took the field to the quarter in :28 and the half in :56.3 before Betterlatethnever (Drew Monti) pulled first-over into the breeze.
Bettors Fire N switched gears after hearing hoofprints and zipped the third panel in :27.2, leaving Betterlatethnever hung without advancing. The race rounded the final bend and when they straightened out at the top of the stretch, Betterlatethnever faded enough to allow the pocket-sitting Rock Diamonds N out of the hole to take a late shot. With both Cushings driving hard to the light, Bettors Fire N would not give up or in and he won by one-half length in 1:51.3.
It was the 55th lifetime win and 10th win of the year for Bettors Fire N ($5.20) who has now earned $171,720 this year for owners Kevin Sywyk, Ron Cushing and Frank Ranaldi. Heidi Gibbs trains the winner who in only 32 North American starts, has now won $202,120 in purses.
The same connections own and train the runner-up Rock Diamonds N.
In the secondary featured $10,500 upper-level conditioned pace, Tisadream N (Drew Monti) sat a perfect garden spot trip behind Quick Shot (Drew Campbell) through fractions of :26.4, :55.3 and 1:23.2. Then coming off the far turn and heading into the lane, Tisadream N pulled and out-muscled the stubborn Quick Shot in a hard-fought stretch drive to win by one-quarter length in 1:52.1.
Tisadream N ($3.60) scored his seventh win of the year and has now earned $55,110 in 2019 for owners Tony Gruppo and Tim Bojarski, Scott Rollins trains Tisadream N.
Mitchell Cushing led all drivers on Thursday with three wins on the card while Drew Monti scored two. Scott Rollins was the top trainer with two tallies as well.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)