Namesmuscle used a second-place finish at Scarborough Downs is his seasonal bow last week to set him up for a big effort at Plainridge Park this week and that allowed him to garner the winner’s share of the purse in the $15,000 Winners Over trotting feature on Friday afternoon (April 12).
Namesmuscle (Matt Athearn) left methodically and worked his way to the lead by the quarter in :27.1. From there, he trotted well in hand with a comfortable open-length advantage to the half in :57.4 and three-quarters in 1:26.1. At that station, the pocket-sitting Nathaniel (Drew Campbell) broke stride and all of a sudden Namesmuscle inherited a three-length lead. But the race was still far from over.
Jericho (Joe Di Stephano) had been advancing up the outside since the half and the post time favourite, Northern Skyway (Shawn Gray) had been motoring up wide from sixth behind him. Although the lead looked large, Athearn was already working Namesmuscle hard out of the last turn and into the stretch, where Di Stephano and Gray were doing the same with their horses. Heading down the lane, Northern Skyway was flying towards the wire under a loose-line drive from Gray, but “Matty Ice” lived up to his name and rhythmically rocked Namesmuscle all the way to the finish and tripped the light first by a head in 1:56 flat.
It was the 30th career win for Namesmuscle ($22), who is owned by William Phipps and trained by Gretchen Athearn.
In the $14,000 co-featured conditioned trot, Nows The Moment (Mike Stevenson) used a first-over trip from fourth at the half to collar the front-running Barney Mac (Bruce Aldrich Jr.) at the wire and win by a nose in 1:56.4. Having scored his first two wins of the year at the Meadowlands, Nows The Moment ($3.80) added his third here and pushed his earnings to $30,733 for owner Sonya MacDonald and trainer Allison MacDonald.
In a true oddity, the eight-race card saw nine different drivers and nine different trainers capture wins during the afternoon. That is because there was a dead-heat for win in the seventh race when ABC Crown Me Queen (McGwire Sowers, $4.60) and Roadshow Vic (Mitchell Cushing, $5.00) could not be separated by the judges' camera at the wire.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Monday afternoon (April 15) at 4 p.m. with an 11-race card featuring a $15,000 Winners Over Pace.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)