A pair of $34,247 Open contests were featured at Plainridge Park on Thursday (July 31) afternoon and both winners were guided to victory through Cushing connections.
In the Open Handicap trot, Mitchell Cushing drove A New Leader to his fifth win of the season.
Going right to the front, A New Leader trotted sharply through quarters of :27.1, :56.1 and 1:24.3 while Sforza (Matty Athearn) followed intently from the pocket just waiting to make her move. And that came at the top of the lane where Sforza pulled and pushed towards the front, but A New Leader would remain the leader all the way to the line where he won by a length in 1:53.1, just one-fifth off his lifetime mark.
A New Leader ($7.00) is trained and owned by Mitchell Cushing, in partnership with Ray Lasky.
Then later in the Open Handicap pace for fillies and mares, Ron Cushing rallied late with Turn The Page N to capture her third win of the year.
Swedish Starlet N (Matty Athearn) bolted for the lead and got to the quarter in :27. But shortly after that, Cushing pulled out early in front of the stands with Turn The Page N and drew within a half length of Swedish Starlet N as the race moved past the half. The two mares matched swift strides to three-quarters in a :27.4 panel and then continued to battle around the last turn and into the stretch, where Turn The Page N got the advantage and then held off the late closing Millwood Bliss N (Brett Beckwith) by one-quarter length and won in 1:51.3.
Turn The Page N ($2.80) is owned by Ron Cushing and Kevin Sywyk and trained by Heidi Cushing.
Drivers Brett Beckwith and Mitchell Cushing and trainer Jimmy Nickerson all scored two wins apiece on the card.
Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Monday (Aug. 4) at 4 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)