After just getting beat a neck in a very tough trip last week in this same class, Ontario-bred Blue Knight came right back and finished the job on Friday afternoon (August 20) in the $25,000 Open Trot at Plainridge Park.
Ivan Davies sent Blue Knight to the front with purpose and the gelding took command by a gapped 1-1/2 lengths through fractions of :27.1, :56.3 and 1:24.4, while stablemate Midnite Craze (Drew Campbell) tracked from second. After the field passed three-quarters, Crossfit Mouse (Drew Monti) pulled from third and looked to have a lot of trot. But he made an uncharacteristic break and that sealed the deal. Blue Knight opened up two lengths at the top of the stretch and cruised home under a line-tap to win in 1:54.1.
Blue Knight ($8.60) has now won two out of the last three feature trots at Plainridge Park and has not missed the board in his last seven outings. And his fourth win of the year has pushed his 2021 earnings to $47,775 for owner Richard Mason. Ivan Davies also trains the winner.
Davies ended the day with a consecutive driving/training double after he won with Raybarnz ($4.40) in the ninth race.
New track record holder New Legacy followed up last week's 1:54 effort as he led at every station to win again in the $15,625 trot for six-year-olds and under.
Driver Drew Monti got away third for a brief moment with New Legacy before brushing to the front to take the lead from Goodashim (Bruce Ranger) at the quarter in :28 flat. From there, he maintained a length advantage to three-quarters where Stevic (Ivan Davies) had made his way up the rim to challenge. After they hit the final turn, New Legacy took off and left the field in his wake, trotting home under no urging whatsoever from Monti to win by 4-1/4 lengths in 1:55.
The win was the second straight and fourth of the year for New Legacy ($4.60), who is owned by Nickerson Racing, Joseph Hayes Jr., Steven Kouray and Donald De Luca. The three-year-old gelded son of Father Patrick-Monarchs Sequel is trained by Jimmy Nickerson.
Drivers Nick Graffam and Bruce Ranger both had driving doubles and Domenico Cecere doubled up on the training side.
Racing resumes at Plainridge on Monday (August 23) with post time at 4 p.m.
(With files from Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)