After not racing since last December at Gloucester Park in Australia, Tisadream N made his first North American start a winning one after capturing Monday’s $15,000 Winners-over pacing feature at Plainridge Park.
Avatartist (Mark Eaton) flew off the gate and took command of the race before hitting the turn and marched swiftly over the track rated good to the quarter in :26.3. The field stayed in single file behind him to the half when Tisadream N (Mitchell Cushing) pulled first and flushed Major Leaguer (Jimmy Whittemore) for live cover heading up the backstretch.
The two outsiders moved forward but when the race hit three-quarters Major Leaguer dropped in second behind Avatartist, leaving Tisadream N a clear path to continue the grind alone towards the leader. Avatartist took an open length lead into the stretch but Tisadream N was fully underway with Cushing bouncing in the bike and the team collared Avatartist in the shadow of the wire to win in 1:52.2.
The time was a new lifetime mark for the winner.
It was the 14th lifetime win for Tisadream N ($6.20) who is a six-year-old gelded son of Bettors Delight-Dreamy Atom that is owned by Tony Gruppo and Tim Bojarski. Scott Rollins does the training.
Cushing had two more winners on the card to score the driving hat trick.
He also won the under card $12,000 mid-level conditioned pace with JK Will Power ($4.40) who took the lead from Quick Shot (Drew Campbell) past the quarter and never looked back in 1:54.1. JK Willpower is owned by Michael Goldberg Racing and is trained by Jeff Lieberman.
And Cushing’s third win came with Gibbs ($10.80) who won by five open lengths in a seasonal best of 1:52.4. Gibbs is owned by Rick Howles and is trained by Eric Beach.
Not to be outdone, Jim Hardy and Shawn Gray both scored driving doubles on the card as well.
The 20-cent Wicked Hi-5 Pentafecta in the ninth race returned and instant jackpot. The combination of 1-8-6-5-3 returned $8,169.48 for two dimes.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon with post time set for 4 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)