A pair of $25,000 Winners-Over paces highlighted the card at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon (April 27) and speed was the order of the day in both.
The first group had eight horses go postward and My Pal Joe (Shawn Gray) beat Patrikthepiranha A (Mitchell Cushing) to the front in a :26.4 quarter, leaving Patrickthepiranha A in the garden spot for the duration. My Pal Joe then went an easy :55.2 half before Colossal Stride A (Luke Hanners) made a first-over bid in turn two. Colossal Stride A stayed close to three-quarters but started to lose ground to My Pal Joe after that. Heading into the stretch, Patrikthepiranha A made his move and advanced towards the leader quickly. After catching up to My Pal Joe, Patrikthepiranha A then took the lead and got the win by one-half length in 1:50 flat, which was the fastest mile so far in 2023.
It was the second straight win for Patrikthepiranha A ($4.40) and Thestable Patrikthepiranha ownership group. Melissa Beckwith was the winning trainer.
Cushing had a total of three driving wins on Thursday.
The second set of six saw Anvil Hands (Jim Hardy) leave hard in :26.2, seating Bag Pipe Major (Kevin Switzer Jr.) and parking Always A Miki (Luke Hanners). Positions remained unchanged to the half in :54.1, but then The Wild Card (Bruce Ranger) made a move from fifth and found himself in the mix second and only one length off as they hit three-quarters in 1:22. As the race made its way to the line, Bag Pipe Major found room between Anvil Hands and The Wild Card and won by a nose in 1:50.3 as only a photo could separate the three.
The first win of 2023 for Bag Pipe Major ($20) was also a lifetime mark for the Art Major gelding owned by Jan Donaway and trained by Elisha Lafreniere.
Switzer also drove three winners on the card.
On the training side, Mike Girouard scored a double to lead his peers on Thursday.
Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Monday (May 1) at 4 p.m. and that card will feature a large $16,605 carryover in the Jackpot Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta wager in race six and a $379 carryover in the Pick-6 in race four.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)