Swedish Starlet N left hard and finished strong as she went the mile of her life in the $33,784 Open Handicap pace for fillies and mares at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (Sept. 17) afternoon.
Matty Athearn sent Swedish Starlet N to the front and fought with Side Piece (Drew Monti) to the quarter in :25.3. Side Piece finally took the lead in front of the stands and then rolled to the half in :54.1. The top two positions remained unchanged up the backside where Racin Hungry (Brett Beckwith) pulled first-over from third and got in the mix.
Side Piece continued her command in the last turn as the field bunched for the stretch drive. As they made their way into the lane, The Pantheist (Shawn Gray) and Quarrel (Bruce Ranger) were fanning out three and four deep on Side Piece, who still had Swedish Starlet N locked in along the pegs. But Athearn finally found room six pylons from the wire and bolted through the daylight to a three-quarter length victory in 1:50.1, giving the mare a new lifetime mark.
The triumph was the 11th win of the year – seventh at Plainridge – for Swedish Starlet N ($3.60), pushing her earnings to $196,509 for owners Tim Bojarski and Tony Gruppo. Jimmy Nickerson trains the seven-year-old daughter of Mach Three-Top Of The Pile.
Swedish Starlet N was one of three winners for Athearn on Tuesday.
The undercard was a $27,027 fillies and mare conditioned pace at 1-1/4 miles and Seaside Tina set a new track record for the distance.
Drew Campbell sat second with Seaside Tina behind Violets Rainbow (Bruce Ranger) through fractions of :28.4, :57, 1:25.1 and 1:52.3. After the race came out of the last turn, Campbell had an opening and tipped Seaside Tina to the middle of the track where she eagerly paced away to a two length victory in 2:20.4, replacing the old standard of 2:22.
The win was the seventh win of the year and all at Plainridge, and second consecutive win at this distance for Seaside Tina ($9.40) who is owned by her trainer, Mark Eaton in partnership with Robert Griffin.
Brett Beckwith also finished the day with a driving hat trick.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Thursday (Sept. 19) at 2 p.m. and there will be a $1,887 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta in race six.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)