Since starting back from a break in early October, Moonshine Kisses has since won three out of four Open Handicap Paces at Saratoga Raceway. On Thursday (Nov. 11), he went to Plainridge Park and dominated once again with a seasonal best effort in the $25,000 Open Handicap despite being assigned the outside post seven.
Driver Jay Randall flew off the gate, took the lead and blistered a :26 flat first quarter with Moonshine Kisses while Thinkbig Dreambig (Bruce Ranger) and Cigars And Port (Wally Watson) followed intently. Moonshine Kisses then did not slow down, hitting the half in :54.1 and three-quarters in 1:21.4 with trailing horses struggling to keep up. As the leader came off the turn, Ranger took his best shot and tipped Thinkbig Dreambig for a rush. But Moonshine Kisses just kept going and opened up two lengths at the light to win in 1:50.2, which was his best clocking of the year.
Moonshine Kisses ($3.80), who has more than a quarter-million dollars in lifetime earnings, notched his seventh win of the year from 18 starts. The winning member of the Kellogg Racing Stables is trained by Jackie Greene.
In the $17,500 conditioned pace, Duplicated N (Jay Randall) followed from last for most of the mile while Starznheaven (Drew Monti) cut the corners. But coming off the far turn, Randall tipped Duplicated N and was five-wide thundering down the lane and won by a head in 1:52.3 at 14-1.
The win was the fifth of the year for Duplicated N ($31.80), owned by Paul London, Michael Sepinuck, Kathleen Brewer and Andrew Kelson. Artie Brewer trains the gelding.
Randall ended the day with a driving hat trick on the card after he added a win with General Ward (1:53.3, $23.60).
There were also two $15,000 condition paces where swift miles were registered.
First, in the mid-level condition, Convert Denario N (Bruce Ranger) followed Tisadream N (Drew Monti) for the entire mile until halfway down the stretch where he tipped and out-kicked the leader to the light in a :27.3 final panel and win by three-quarters of a length in 1:52.4, which was a new lifetime mark. Convert Denario N ($4.80) is owned by his trainer Melissa Beckwith along with Alea MacDonald.
Bruce Ranger won again later to end the day with two driving wins.
Then later in an upper-level Trackmaster, Sports Obsession (Drew Monti) procured perfect pocket passage from the quarter pole to the top of the stretch where he tipped and paced away to a 2-1/2-length victory in 1:52.3. Sports Obsession ($5.20) now has seven wins and $84,443 in earnings this year for owner Joseph Trice.
Driver Drew Monti ended the day with two wins as did trainer Jimmy Nickerson.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Friday (Nov. 12) with post time at 1 p.m.
(With files from Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)