Swedish Starlet N wires the girls in $25,000 Open

Plainville, MA — Swedish Starlet N took her favorite harness racing position on the point and scored a gate to wire victory in the $25,000 Distaff Open Handicap pace at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (July 1) afternoon.

Matty Athearn bolted quickly to the front with Swedish Starlet N and reached the quarter in :26.3 with Uptown Hanover (Bruce Ranger) and Arizona (Brett Beckwith) following closely behind. Positions remained unchanged to the half in :54.4 until Uptown Hanover pulled to challenge heading to three-quarters. Swedish Starlet N responded to that challenge with a :27.3 third panel which kept Uptown Hanover at Bay heading into turn three. Swedish Starlet N took her lead into the stretch and paced home with authority while holding off the fast-closing Always Bstunning N (Kevin Switzer Jr.) to win by one-half length in a season’s best, 1:51.

It was the third win of the year for Swedish Starlet N ($6.40) who is owned by Tim Bojarski and Tony Gruppo and trained by Jimmy Nickerson.

In the $17,600 upper-level conditioned pace for fillies and mares, Seaside Tina (Kevin Switzer Jr.) sat second behind Fade Out (Brett Beckwith) through quarters of :26.1, :55.2 and 1:23.1. Fade Out continued to lead while fighting off an outer-flow around the last turn but when the girls entered the stretch, Seaside Tina found room along the pegs, bolted to the lead in deep stretch and won by a length in 1:53.2.

Seaside Tina ($3.80) is trained and owned by Mark Eaton, in partnership with Robert Griffin.

Jimmy Hardy led all drivers with three wins during the afternoon.

There was one lucky winner in the Wicked Hi-5 in the day’s ninth race. The single unique combination of 1-6-4-3-8 returned $9,649.94 for the 20-cent wager.

Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (July 1) at 4 p.m. and there will be a $6,889 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta in race six.

Free full past performance programs and race replays for all live racing days at Plainridge Park can be found at plainridgeparkcasino.com.

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

by Tim Bojarski, for Plainridge Park