It was a dark and stormy day. But despite the wind, rain and sloppy going, Mambo Lindy delivered like the postman and won the $13,000 Open trotting feature at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon.
Mistress Valentine (Mark Eaton) embarked on her usual mission of getting the lead, but resistance from Midnite Craze (Ivan Davies) and Trotalot (Heath Campbell) stretched that process out until the three-eighths pole this week. Once in front, Mistress Valentine took the crew past the half in :55.3 with a gapped three-length advantage.
Waiting On A Woman (Fern Paquet, Jr.) pulled first-over and provided draft for Mambo Lindy (Greg Merton) and Trotalot. The outer-flow threesome caught the leader at the three-quarters when Mambo Lindy tipped three-deep off his cover around the last turn. He then dug in, threw his head with his stride and showed everyone who the best horse was this day. Mambo Lindy drew off to win by six open lengths with Merton sitting chilly in 1:54.2.
It was the second consecutive win at Plainridge for Mambo Lindy ($3.00) and the time of 1:54.2 was a new seasonal mark. The six-year-old gelded son of Donato Hanover is owned by Greathorse of Hampden, MA and is trained by Frank Antonacci.
Antonacci's stable put on a show, pulling off the training hat-trick on Thursday. Besides taking the feature with Mambo Lindy, Antonacci also sent Only Passing Through ($6.00, 1:58.1) and World Of Lindy ($7.40, 1:59.3) to the winner’s enclosure for pictures.
The Ridge’s leading driver Greg Merton won three races on the card, a total that was matched by Ron Cushing. And Kevin Switzer, Jr. captured two victories on the afternoon.
Racing resumes on Friday at Plainridge Park with post time for the first race at 4 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)