After two impressive outings that saw him come up just short, Tag Up And Go carried the mail from gate to wire with a nail-biter victory in the $14,000 Open trotting feature at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon.
Bruce Aldrich, Jr. floated Tag Up And Go off the gate and hovered outside fourth until all the early action cleared. Then he methodically worked his way up to the front by the quarter in :27.3. With Mistress Valentine (Mark Eaton) on his back and the rest of the field spaced out, Tag Up And Go dictated a pedestrian second quarter of :30.1 before going up tempo after that.
As soon as they hit three-quarters in 1:26, Eaton popped the pocket and then the plugs and sent Mistress Valentine to catch the leader. Then these two trotted in tandem around the last turn before Tag Up And Go rebuffed the challenge and put the mare away.
But the race was far from over as Mambo Lindy (Greg Merton) who was fresh in from Florida and making his first start of the year, came flying from the back of the pack devouring copious amounts of ground and looking like he would collar the front-runner. But Aldrich kept Tag Up And Go to task and hung on to a nose victory in 1:55.1.
It was the third win in 14 starts for Tag Up And Go ($3.00) and it pushed his 2017 earnings to $48,200 for owners Lester Gelardi, Jr. and Anthony Passafaro. The seven-year-old Angus hall gelding is trained by Monique Cohen.
In the co-featured $9,000 conditioned event for trotters, history was made at Plainridge Park.
After an inauspicious start to 2017, Backstage Pass (Eddie Davis, Jr.) brought his A-game to work and set a new track record for three-year-old trotting colts when he turned a first-over trip into a 1:55.4 victory over heavily favoured Waiting On A Woman (Greg Merton).
The clocking replaced the 1:56.1 standard set by Wings Of Royalty in 2015 and was also a new personal best for the winner. Backstage Pass ($6.60) is owned by Jessica Smith and is trained by Randy Smith.
Jim Hardy had a stellar day, driving two winners that he also trains. Eddie Davis, Jr. and Bruce Aldrich, Jr. drove two winners apiece and Monique Cohen sent two trainees to the winners circle as well.
Live racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Friday, May 5 with first race post time set for 4 p.m. This is the first Friday card of the year and Friday racing will continue for the remainder of the meet (Nov. 24).
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)