Luca Bay leads Hardy/Andrews triple

Plainville, MA — The driver/trainer tandem of Jimmy Hardy and Jolene Andrews was a formidable force on Monday (Sept. 14) afternoon at Plainridge Park by leading their respective categories after scoring three wins on the harness racing card, including capturing the featured $17,000 conditioned pace with Luca Bay (Lazarus N) in a career best outing.

Luca Bay got away sixth as Sunsational (Drew Monti) and Tahunanui (Brett Beckwith) traded leads to the half in :55.2. An outside attack formed there, led by Be Ready To Rock (Matty Athearn) with Luca Bay third-over in the flow, but still sixth, in the solid :28.1 third panel. As the race moved through turn three, Luca Bay tipped three-wide as Be Ready To Rock edged ahead of Tahunanui. When the group turned for home Be Ready To Rock held a slight lead, but Tahunanui continued to fight while three other horses were within a length of the wire. But Luca Bay was loaded with pace and swooped them all to win and take a new lifetime mark of 1:53.

LUCA BAY REPLAY

Luca Bay ($26.00) is owned by Arthur Blutstein.

Hardy and Andrews also won the $15,000 Starter Allowance with Anvil Hands (Always B Miki), who led every step of the way through quarters of :27, :55.1 and 1:23.1 before turning for home and crossing the line first by a length in 1:51, just one-fifth of a second off his lifetime mark. It was the 25th career victory for Anvil Hands ($4.80) who is owned by David Thibault, Christine Thibault, Hardy and Andrews.

ANVIL HANDS REPLAY

The Green Team closed out their triple with Bang Ah Uey ($9.60), who took a seasonal mark of 1:52 for his owners David Thibault, Hardy and John Marini Jr.

There was another $15,000 conditioned pace on the card for 3-year-old side-wheelers and it was won by the Massachusetts-bred Uff Da (Brett Beckwith) who took the lead past the quarter and won by one-half length in a lifetime best, 1:53.4. Uff Da ($2.40) is owned by John Lems and Chris Lems and trained by Melissa Backewith. Uff Da will be competing in the $3.2 million (est) Massachusetts Breeders Stakes which kick off at Plainridge Park on Monday, September 28.

Racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (Sept. 15) at 2 p.m.

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