After leading at every station of the race, Swedish Starlet N held off two late bids from fast-closing rivals to claim her second win of the year in the featured $34,247 Open Pace for fillies and mares at Plainridge Park on Tuesday, May 27.
Kevin Switzer Jr. left fast with Swedish Starlet N and held a two-length lead over Lady Saturn (Mitchell Cushing) in the :26.2 quarter. From there, Switzer throttled down the half to :56.1, forcing an outer flow from SS Superstar (Bruce Ranger), Waitforever N (Shawn Gray) and Side Piece (Drew Monti). As the field made its way up the backstretch, SS Superstar drew near Swedish Starlet N, who had picked up the pace with a :27.4 third panel, but could not get by.
The field was bunching as they passed three-quarters in 1:24 and then halfway through the last turn, Waitforever N tipped three-deep around the fading SS Superstar and she was charging. As the girls turned for home, Swedish Starlet N maintained a half-length advantage, but Waitforever N was closing on the outside and the tripped-out Lady Saturn was making up ground along the pegs. However, Swedish Starlet N refused to lose and paced hard all the way to the wire, winning in a season’s best 1:52.2. Waitforever N was second, with Lady Saturn (Mitchell Cushing) finishing third.
The win was the 25th in 95 lifetime starts for Swedish Starlet N ($6). The eight-year-old daughter of Mach Three-Top Of The Pile is trained by Jimmy Nickerson and owned by Tim Bojarski and Tony Gruppo.
Switzer also won the $26,027 upper-level conditioned event for female pacers with the recently imported Always Bstunning N, who took a new lifetime mark of 1:51.1 in impressive style.
Seaside Tina (Walter Case Jr.) parked Always Bstunning N past the :26.3 quarter before releasing her to the lead. And once that happened, the race was basically over. Always Bstunning N got to the half in :55.2 before opening up a two-length advantage at three-quarters in 1:23.3, where Checkpoint Chatter (Jim Hardy) was making an outside rush and was closing ground in the breeze. After making her way around the last turn, Always Bstunning N extended her lead as she bolted for home and won handily off a sharp :27.3 final panel. Checkpoint Chatter held for second, with Seaside Tina finishing third.
The win was the second straight for Always Bstunning N ($2.60). The six-year-old daughter of Always B Miki-Simply Stunning is trained by Gretchen Athearn and owned by Richard Poillucci.
Nick Graffam was the leading driver on Tuesday after scoring a hat trick on the card. Gretchen Athearn and Jimmy Nickerson were the commanding conditioners, winning two races apiece.
The Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta was hit in the day’s ninth race. The single unique combination of 1-8-7-3-2 returned a healthy $4,262.26 for the 20-cent wager.
Live harness racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Thursday, May 29 at 4 p.m.
(With files from Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)