After drawing three consecutive outside posts, Paternity Suit A found himself starting third from the pylons and made it pay as he won the $15,000 Winners-Over pacing feature at Plainridge Park on Monday afternoon.
Driver Drew Monti pushed away the gate with Paternity Suit A and grabbed the lead immediately and with the field in single file behind him, backed the half down to :55.3.
As the field motored up the backside, last week's feature winner Tom Me Gun N (Shawn Gray) pulled first over into the breeze and mounted a challenge against the leader. Tom Me Gun N got to within a length of Paternity Suit A around the last turn but when they hit the top of the stretch, Monti tapped the bike twice and Paternity Suit A swelled up and pulled away to a 4-3/4 length lead at the wire and won in 1:50.3.
It was the fourth win in the last six starts for Paternity Suit A ($6.00) who is owned by Tony Gruppo and Tim Bojarski.
The second fastest mile of the day was posted by Avatartist in the $12,000 upper level condition pace who won after taking a bit of air.
Mitchell Cushing pulled Avatartist first over from fourth at the half and motored up the outer rim in a 1:22 three-quarters. From there, he continued to wear down the front running Quick Shot (Bruce Ranger) in the lane and tripped the beam 1-1/4 lengths ahead in 1:50.4.
It was the fourth win of the year for Avatartist ($6.60) and trainer Mark Eaton who co-owns with Bob McHugh, Robert Griffin and Russell Young.
Bruce Ranger had a huge day in the bike, scoring a grand slam on the card. He won with Chocolate Xplosion (1:56.3, $8.00), Bag Pipe Major (1:51.3, $2.80), Dancing Lew (1:54.4, $2.40) and Rancousy (1:52, $13.40).
Courtesy of his efforts, Ranger moved into a second-place tie for the dash driving lead with Shawn Gray with 36 wins, five behind the leading Drew Monti and one ahead of the fourth place Mitchell Cushing.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Thursday with post time at 2 p.m.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)