Piercewave Hanover climbed up the class ladder after his inaugural Plainridge Park victory last week, but the move made little difference. After turning back multiple challenges, Piercewave Hanover handily took the $14,000 Winners-Over trot on Thursday afternoon (June 21) in a career-best effort.
Shawn Gray went right for the lead with Piercewave Hanover, but the pair would be under duress the entire mile. First, Just Make Believe (Joe DiStefano) left right along with them and acted as a prompter for the first half of the race. Parked out from the word "go," Just Make Believe pushed the quarter in :26.2 and the half in :55.1. As they moved up the backstretch, the rim-rider faded but Piercewave Hanover would still not get a breather.
Approaching the three-quarter pole, Osprey Impact (Mike Stevenson) tipped three-wide around Just Make Believe and moved right alongside Piercewave Hanover. These two trotted in close proximity to the seven-eighths pole, when Osprey Impact packed it in. The final push came from Buff (Greg Merton), who had gotten a perfect pocket trip. He made a late charge but it was short-lived, as Piercewave Hanover trotted away under a loose-line drive by Gray to win in 1:53, which was a new lifetime mark.
Piercewave Hanover ($5.00) now tops $40,000 in seasonal earnings for owners FBP Racing Stable and Jordan Derue, who also trains him.
Trainer Domenico Cecere and the connections of Lindy Farms remained hot on Thursday, winning both $10,000 conditioned trotting co-feature events.
Kinda Lucky Lindy (Greg Merton) took a new lifetime mark of 1:54.2 after scoring from off the pace by three lengths in the first race, and French Moni (Patrizio Ancora) also registered a career-best effort after rallying to win by three lengths in 1:54.1 in the eighth.
Greg Merton, Drew Campbell and Shawn Gray all had driving triples on the card.
Live racing returns to Plainridge Park on Friday (June 22) at 4 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)