Plainville, MA — When driver Matty Athearn finished third with I’m A Clown in the 11th race at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (July 2) afternoon, he surpassed $10 million in career earnings, with his current bankroll sitting $446 over that benchmark on the strength of 1,126 career wins.

Known as “Matty Ice” for his chill demeanor at the lines, the Portland, Maine, native comes from a generational racing family. His father, Mark, is both a longtime trainer and driver in Maine, and his mother Gretchen, is an accomplished trainer who currently sits sixth for wins among Plainridge conditioners.

Athearn got his license in 2014 at age 16 and immediately started driving at fairs in Maine. Now 26 and in his 11th year driving, Athearn is currently the third-leading driver at Plainridge Park with 43 wins and just over $540,000 in purses.

Matty Athearn eclipsed the $10-million plateau in career earnings on Tuesday at Plainridge Park. Jessica Hallett photo.

Now residing in Saratoga, N.Y., Athearn is also a regular at Saratoga Casino Hotel and sits fourth there in the dash win category with 68 victories and $575,00 in earnings.

For the year as a whole, Athearn now has 119 wins and $1.2 million in earnings with a UDR of .260.

The feature race on Tuesday was an $17,000 upper-level conditioned pace for fillies and mares, and Side Piece put in a stellar effort coming from behind to snare the victory.

Racey Rach N (Mitchell Cushing) took the lead from Ry’s Red Rocket (Bruce Ranger) passing the :27.1 quarter and backed the half down to :56.2 once in the driver’s seat. Dandy’s Everlasting (Athearn) was already out and rolling from third in the breeze at that point with Side Piece (Drew Monti) following closely with the cover. Positions remained unchanged to three-quarters and into the last turn, where Monti tipped Side Piece three-high as they approached the stretch. Once in the lane, Side Piece paced past her peers under a line drive and won by three-quarters of a length in 1:52.3.

With the win, Side Piece ($4.80) increased her career earnings to $249,641 for owner Janie Kellogg. Jackie Greene trains the winner.

Monti ended the day with a driving triple, also winning with Gray Skies (1:55, $38.40) and Sundown Kid (1:51.4, $9.80).

Earlier, in a $14,000 conditioned pace for 5-year-olds and under, Sweet Jeff IR (Nick Graffam) moved first-over from sixth and incrementally gained ground on leader Social Sinker (Brett Beckwith) to the top of the lane. There, Sweet Jeff IR inched ahead of Social Drinker and then held off a fast-closing ER Griffin (Bruce Ranger) at the line to win by a head in 1:52.4.

It was the second win in a row for Sweet Jeff IR ($4.20), who is owned by Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi and trained by Joe Nelson.

Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Thursday (July 4) with post time at 4 p.m. The card will feature a $1,163 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 in race six.