Justa Little Bit A hangs on for a narrow win

Plainville, MA — Despite being pestered the entire mile, Justa Little Bit A stood his ground and hung on to win the featured $17,000 Trackmaster pace at Plainridge Park on Friday (June 18) afternoon. 

Matty Athearn sent Justa Little Bit A to the front, but Jim Hardy also launched Anvil Hands in the same direction and the match race was on from there. Justa Little Bit A had the pylon position while parking Anvil Hands, who was aired-out in fractions of :27.2, :56.2 and 1:24.1. The two pacers continued to match strides around the last turn and into the stretch, where the rest of the field started to bunch. As they headed for the wire, Justa Little Bit A pulled away from Anvil Hands in deep stretch and held off a late-closing JL’s Rock Star (Nick Graffam) to win by a neck in 1:53.3 in a photo that saw the entire field separated by only 1-¾ lengths.

JUST A LITTLE BIT REPLAY

It was the third win of the year for Justa Little Bit A ($11.00), who is owned and trained by Gretchen Athearn.

Bruce Ranger and Scott Renz were the leading driver and trainer on Friday, scoring two wins apiece.

Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Monday (June 22) at 4 p.m. and there will be a $5,271 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta wager in the sixth race.

Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Plainridge Park can always be downloaded at their website (plainridgeparkcasino.com) under the “Racing” tab. You can also watch all the race replays on that same page.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts