Now’s The Moment, Zorgwijk Nova best at Plainridge
August 30, 2018,by Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts
Plainville, MA — Trotters took center stage at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon (Aug. 30), and the top two classes both yielded strong performances.
Tom Melanson photo
Now’s The Moment drew off late to capture Thursday’s featured trotting event at Plainridge Park.
In a $12,000 conditioned race for 6-year-olds and under, Now’s The Moment (Shane Taggart) got away last while New World Goal (Mitchell Cushing) set the fractions for almost the entire mile. By the half-mile marker, three horses broke and Now’s The Moment was able to avoid traffic before motoring up the backstretch and eventually drawing even with the leader at the top of the stretch. From there, he trotted on by and opened up a three-length advantage at the wire, winning in 1:56.3.
It was the third win in the last five starts and fifth win of the year for Now’s the Moment ($6.60), who is owned by Sonya MacDonald and trained by Allison MacDonald.
Then, in a $10,000 non-winners event, Zorgwijk Nova (Mitchell Cushing) took a quarter mile to get the lead, but when she did, it was for keeps. After setting fractions of :27.3, :56.4 and 1:25.2, Zorgwijk Nova held off challenges from Dial a Chic (Joe Di Stefano) and Coco Lindy (Greg Merton) and hung on to win by a length in 1:54.4, which was a new lifetime mark for the mare.
It was the second straight win for Zorgwijk Nova ($11.40) under the guidance of trainer Eric Beach for owner A Piece Of The Action LLC.
Mitchell Cushing and Shane Taggart each had two wins on the card, leading all other reinsmen on Thursday.
There was no winning ticket in the Wicked Hi-5 Pentafecta wager again on Thursday, so there will be a $7,742 carryover pool in the sixth race Wicked Hi-5 on Monday (Sept. 3) when live racing resumes at Plainridge Park at the new, earlier post time of 2 p.m.