Taking full advantage of second-half cover, Our Lady Lara A finished with a flurry to claim her 10th win of the year with a lifetime-best effort in the $25,000 Fillies & Mares Winners-Over pacing feature at Plainridge Park on Friday afternoon (Sept. 8).
Brett Beckwith took Our Lady Lara A off the gate and settled in fifth while La Bella Vita N (Shawn Gray) out-muscled Racey Rach N (Mitchell Cushing) for the lead at the :26.4 quarter before hitting the pylons. Gray then backed off the second panel to :29.1, forcing Therewasthisgirl (Nick Graffam) to advance in the breeze with Our Lady Lara A following closely second-over. These positions remained unchanged to the seven-eighths where Beckwith tipped Our Lady Lara A off cover and three-deep into the stretch. Our Lady Lara A cleared the front in deep stretch and paced sharply to the line in 1:51.4.
A seven-year-old daughter of Betterthancheddar, Our Lady Lara A ($4) has now earned $86,670 this year for owners S&K Misfit Racing and VIP Internet Stable under the tutelage of Amanda Kelley.
In the $17,500 conditioned undercard pace, Out To Get Lucky (Drew Campbell) got away fifth as All Attitude (Luke Hanners) led the field to the half. When the race rolled past that station, Dempsey Hanover (Mitchell Cushing) pulled furst-over and was followed by Out To Get Lucky. Moving up the backstretch, Dempsey Hanover's bid faltered at three-quarters, forcing Out To Get Lucky three-wide into the last turn. Out To Get Lucky took the lead from All Attitude at the head of the stretch and maintained his position to the wire where he won by 1-3/4 lengths to score the upset in 1:53.3.
Out To Get Lucky ($23.80) is owned by Bill Beechy and Kim Beechy and is trained by Randy Bickmore.
Drivers Brett Beckwith, Matty Athearn and Mike Stevenson each had two wins on the card while 11 different trainers each won one race during the afternoon.
Live harness racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Monday, Sept. 11 at 2 p.m. and there will be a $1,456 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta wager in race six.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)