After only getting to third in his first attempt at the top class here, Major Leaguer hit a home run on Monday afternoon in the $16,000 Winners-Over pace at Plainridge Park.
Some Attitude (Steve Nason) left hard but had a long road to the front before clearing in a swift :26.1. He took the field past the stands where Major Leaguer (Jimmy Whittemore) pulled first over to engage the leader up the back straight. The two were going toe to toe to the three quarters in 1:22.1 and then around the last turn. At that point Some Attitude checked out, but Quick Shot (Nick Graffam) and Moonlight Artist (Mitchell Cushing) tipped wide and joined the party. Major Leaguer still had the lead and he bravely kept it to the wire, beating his two rivals by a head in 1:51.1.
The finish was so close, Quick Shot and Moonlight Artist finished in a dead-heat for second and both also paced in 1:51.1.
It was the 22nd win in 42 lifetime starts for Major Leaguer ($4.00) who is owned by his driver and trained by Dennis Whittemore.
Jimmy Whittemore also won the secondary feature with Bamski who took the $14,000 non-winners event for the six-year-olds and under set.
Bamski got away third early on but found himself on the point by the half and from there he never looked back. Bamski was pestered from the half on by the tenacious Cougar Bait (Wally Watson) but held that one off all the way to the wire to win by a neck in 1:52.3, which was a new lifetime mark.
Bamski ($5.00) is owned by Lester Gelardi, Jr. and Anthony Passafaro and is trained by Monique Cohen.
Mitchel Cushing had a driving Grand Slam on Monday, winning with Stimulus Plan (1:52.2, $7.00), Sunburst Cruze (1:54, $2.20), Calvin B (1:50.4, $2.20) and Burkentine Hanover (1:53, $5.40). In the 10 races Cushing drove in he only missed the board once and that gave him a sparkling universal driver rating (UDR) of .589.
The quad score also moved Cushing (45) up one spot to fifth place in the dash driver standings at Plainridge Park for this meet behind Drew Campbell (105), Greg Merton (83), Shawn Gray (79) and Mike Stevenson (51).
With no winning ticket in the Wicked Hi-5 Pentafecta wager on Monday, there will be a carry-over pool of $3,471 in the sixth race on Tuesday (Aug. 21) which is the next card of live racing art Plainridge Park. Post time for the first race is 4 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)