After getting hung out to dry every step of the mile last week in his North American debut, New Zealand import Kenrick N cleared and won in a rout in the $15,000 Open Handicap pace at Plainridge Park on Monday afternoon.
Leaving from post three, Ron Cushing pushed Kenrick N right to the front, overtaking Ace Of Clubs (Shawn Gray) past the quarter in :26.4. And from there he never looked back. When the heavily favoured Americanprimetime (Greg Merton) came calling past the stands, Kenrick N stayed on task while setting fractions of :54 to the half and 1:22 to the three quarters. By that time Americanprimetime had enough and the pocket sitting Ace Of Clubs had no answers and as a result, Cushing and Kenrick N cruised to a comfortable two length victory in 1:50.2.
It was the first northern hemisphere win and a new lifetime mark for Kenrick N ($9.40) who is owned by Kevin Sywyk and his driver, Ron Cushing. Heidi Gibbs trains the winner.
In the undercard $12,000 conditioned pacing event, Pocono invader Electric Western (Greg Merton) was never headed en route to his second score of 2018, winning in a career-best tying mark of 1:50.3. Electric Western ($10.20) is owned and trained by Mark Ford.
Two $10,000 divisions of the Henry David Thoreau pacing series were also contested on Monday.
The first division went to Mysharona Bluechip (Pat Curtain) who went gate to wire in 1:51.2, which was a new seasonal mark. Owned by A Piece of the Action LLC and trained by Eric Beach, Mysharona Bluechip returned $2.80.
The second division went to Sailor Jerry (Nick Graffam) who tripped-out behind the front running Bro Hanover (Steve Nason) to hit the wire first by a head in 1:52.3. Sailor Jerry ($9.60) is owned by Chris Hamilton, Sylvia Hamilton and Mike Graffam, who also trains the winner.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Tuesday afternoon with post time for the first race at 4 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)