Plainville, MA – After not racing since last December at Gloucester Park in Perth, Western Australia, Tisadream N made his first North American start a winning one by capturing the featured $15,000 Winners-Over Pace at Plainridge Park on Monday (April 15).

Avatartist (Mark Eaton) flew off the gate and took command of the race before hitting the turn, marching swiftly to the quarter in :26.3. The field stayed in single file behind him to the half, when Tisadream N (Mitchell Cushing) pulled first and flushed Major Leaguer (Jimmy Whittemore) for live cover heading up the backstretch.

Tisadream N rallied for a narrow win in his North American debut on Monday at Plainridge Park. Tom Melanson photo.

The two outsiders moved forward, but when the race hit three-quarters, Major Leaguer dropped in second behind Avatartist, leaving Tisadream N a clear path to continue the grind alone towards the leader. Avatartist took an open-length lead into the stretch but Tisadream N was fully underway with Cushing bouncing in the bike. The team collared Avatartist in the shadow of the wire to win in 1:52.2, good for a new lifetime mark.

It was the 14th lifetime win for Tisadream N ($6.20), a 6-year-old gelded son of Bettor’s Delight and Dreamy Atom that is owned by Tony Gruppo and Tim Bojarski. Scott Rollins does the training.

Cushing had two more winners on the card to score a driving hat trick.

He also won the sub-featured $12,000 mid-level conditioned pace with JK Willpower ($4.40), who took the lead from Quick Shot (Drew Campbell) past the quarter and never looked back in 1:54.1. JK Willpower is owned by Michael Goldberg Racing and is trained by Jeff Lieberman.

Cushing’s third win came with Gibbs ($10.80), who won by five lengths in a seasonal best of 1:52.4. Gibbs is owned by Rick Howles and is trained by Eric Beach.

Not to be outdone, Jim Hardy and Shawn Gray both scored driving doubles on the card as well.

The 20-cent Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta in the ninth race returned an instant jackpot; he combination of 1-8-6-5-3 returned $8,169.48 for two dimes.

Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon (April 18) with post time set for 4 p.m.

For more Massachusetts racing information, please log on to the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts website or the Plainridge Park website.